Broken Blades
by Zatroopa
Summary: In another world, the Bee and the Demon replace the Snake and the Seeker of Justice in Aizen's plans. Only the Gotei 13 have the strength and resources to prevent his plans from entering fruition, but the pain of treachery remains if only in a different shape. Many dear friends will have to be cut down on either side and no one will be safe. AU
1. Sparks to the Fire

**So, it looks like I'm actually trying to get a full multi-chapter fic up. I got the idea from the very high quality fanfic "Downfall" which I can not recommend enough, I hope to at least come close to it in terms of keeping to the actual characters and setting of Bleach.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Bleach.**

* * *

**Chapter I: Sparks to the Fire**

Hinamori Momo was frightened, that much could be seen. She had been ordered to be imprisoned for attacking Captain Aizen's murderer, by Shiro-chan no less, and that was bad enough when Captain Soi Fon had intercepted her halfway and instead moved her to the Second Division headquarters but did not do the same for Izuru.

The Captain's quarters for the Second Division was much darker and dangerous than the more welcoming spirit of the Fifth Division might have been for her, though it was probably going to give a more mocking theme now that Hinamori had lost her light. Captain Soi Fon was trying to be as welcoming as she remembered Captain Aizen was towards his Vice-Captain, to little avail.

Perhaps if she tried serving some tea or smiling with a warmer express-

No. Such pretensions would only give the impression that she was mocking Hinamori for what had happened. Despite promises she had made, especially towards one who had trusted her this much, she was going to tell Hinamori. Soi Fon had recalled the pain of being abandoned by someone she admired heavily without even getting the chance to talk with them, she may have even begged to join said model.

Thankfully, she was older and wiser. She now realised what had happened to Yoruichi and would not stop until she had rescued her from the trap that she had been ensnared in for a hundred years, even if she had to beat the truth into her.

Now was not the time for that, however, as the Vice Captain of the Fifth Division was becoming more and more confused about why she had been brought here and Soi Fon needed to complete her part of the plan without fail. Otherwise, she may not be able to get away with her creative interpretation of said plan.

"Vice Captain Hinamori," She started with a stern tone, the best with Hinamori's type. "What had possessed you to attack a Captain of the Gotei 13 and accuse him of murdering another?"

The answer came in the form of a stutter. "I had thought-"

"That your own death would somehow make things better?" She was smart, she could see the hint but waited for more information.

"Captain Ichimaru is not the most reliable character in Seireitei, the murder of Captain Aizen matches his sadistic nature." Hinamori's attempt at offering evidence was somewhat undermined by her wavering tone between horror and anger, Gin's manner was not exactly one that screamed innocent in all of this.

"What proof do you have of this?" She needed something from her, anything that would allow her the chance to set things in motion. Hinamori seemed to remain silent, as if unsure, which would never do. "If there is nothing, then your attack was completely unwarranted and you will be sent to a holding cell while Captain Ichimaru is to be left alone."

The prospect of Aizen's murderer going free was the ultimate nightmare for Hinamori, she could imagine Gin having a fancy little party for himself at the Third Division to celebrate his perfect crime while Aizen was left to rot in the ground with his presence slowly being eliminated both physically and mentally.

"Shiro-ch-I mean Captain Hitsugaya had warned me that the Third Division was up to something." A smile had to be fought off her face. Yamamoto could just be told that she relayed the suspicion of two Captains to the Central 46 and that she was ordered to seize him, his lack of action towards the Ryoka (perhaos he sympathised with them?) would be further evidence.

"Was there any reason for this?"

Hinamori seemed to come to life, ecstatic at seeing that 'justice' may be served. "Captain Aizen told me that he suspected that Captain Ichimaru had ulterior motives when it came to the Ryoka. That he let them live for an unknown reason, I'm sure that he planned on confronting him about it when-"

"The case is stronger than I thought." It was all Soi Fon needed, or rather she gave that impression, trust needed to be built up more. "The Central 46 asked Captain-Commander Yamamoto and I to monitor Captain Ichimaru for suspicious motives and you have just provided us with the last piece of information required."

"I-I-"

"Omaeda, order #1421 has been activated. Send fifty of our best if Captain Ichimaru refuses to cooperate." She gave Hinamori a smile of victory, it was easier to give than she thought, and waited for the expected reaction. "Justice being served is a strong form of relief, Captain Sosuke Aizen will be avenged."

However, Hinamori only looked happy for a few seconds. Her head suddenly drooped once more and Soi Fon noted that the young Vice Captain's eyes were beginning to mist, it seemed that she was now having to accept the fact that Aizen had died and was never to return.

"This is a dream," How many times had Soi Fon told herself that when she used to imagine Yoruichi returning to her. "One that ended too bitter to be close to sweet. If Captain Aizen doesn't return then..."

"I know how you feel about him." A look of surprise from Hinamori came about. "No one really understands it. They just think of you as an overzealous Vice Captain or someone smitten by power, but never them. You don't know why but you feel safe around them, you can confide within them, speak to them plainly but you never try to because you just have too much _respect_ for them and what they do for Seireitei. If they have a single flaw it is often that they are too trusting, willing to share themselves with a cruel world, and that they don't see just how wonderful they are and how bright they make your life."

"Every moment is like a dream coming true." She did know, it was almost a shame that this had to happen.

"Then it all collapses."Hinamori looked as crushed as she had been a hundred years ago. "I lost my Captain to someone as well. I last saw her when I went to sleep and I never even found out where she was gone. All I could hear was slander to her name, that she aided traitors willingly and that it was best to forget about her."

Once again, Hinamori's head dipped in sadness, looking at the floor designs of the office. "Why do the best never get what they deserve?"

"The system is built that way, to encourage blind loyalty and no speciality beyond what is approved." Soi Fon's mind was made up, she was telling Hinamori everything. "Vice Captain Hinamori, I can have you meet Aizen again in this life."

She looked too shocked to say anything. Her mind was trying to find out whether she really was in a dream or whether a cruel joke was being used, hopefully she would understand what Soi Fon would say to her and be cooperative.

If not, then what was one more body?

"Do not assume I am joking, what I am about to tell you is something I was asked not to. I am risking a large amount of trust by doing this and I need your word that you will not only tell no one about this but that you follow Captain Aizen to the end if need be." The stern tone used had not removed all of Hinamori's senses. "Can I trust you on this?"

For a few seconds, she looked almost conflicted before nodding, determination present in her eyes. "I only want to be with Captain Aizen again."

"Very well then," The die had been cast. "I am about to tell you something, once I have finished, you will no longer be innocent in all of this."

* * *

"So, looks like today's the day."

Kenpachi Zaraki was a simple man. Yes, he just lost to that Ryoka kid in what was a killer fight (even if the damn sword was refusing to talk to him still) but it was a good fight and that was almost all that really mattered in his life. He didn't need to be told that today was the day that shit would go down, he knew it when that Kuchiki kid got her execution date moved forward.

Aizen was an impatient guy, even if he was damn strong.

"Remember the day we met him?" Yachiru asked, being the other thing that mattered to Zaraki, with a pondering tone. She always liked going down memory lane when stuff was happening. "It was a few months after we met, Ken-chan."

Yachiru was still unable to care for herself and Zaraki had tried to find someone to house both of them in one of the more scummy Districts, some bandits didn't like it and were quickly cut down without much effort. It would have been a normal day in his life had it not been for the sound of clapping that came from the shadows.

Back then, Aizen was just a Vice Captain but had been a pretty tough opponent. He said some crap about testing Zaraki's mettle and the latter had been damn impressed by what he saw, at least until it turned out to be an illusion, it was still enough for Aizen to offer Zaraki a place by his side in exchange for the chance to beat a lot of tough opponents.

Needless to say, Zaraki decided to go with it. He didn't give a crap about Soul Kings and all that, he was in it for the fight and Yachiru seemed to like Aizen, meaning that he was with this guy now. All that he had to do was keep an eye on that Renji kid, take out some guys who Aizen didn't need much longer and keep that Gin guy off his back.

He didn't know why but Aizen eventually blabbed about his zanpakuto's weakness. He had that his sword liked him and wanted to help him, Kyoka Suigetsu had linked with his mind and managed to trick Instinct into playing along, it hurt like hell and Aizen seemed to think that some sacred bond was established. All you had to do was touch the damn sword and the illusions would vanish, although bankai wasn't mentioned at all.

Tousen had been a problem. The guy was the literal personifiwhatever of a stick in the mud and was always judging Zaraki during meetings, they had almost come to blows when Tousen argued that Yachiru was being corrupted, untrustworthy and should be 'dealt with'. Tousen almost didn't survive the night if it weren't for that damn illusion thing.

Even then, Zaraki didn't have a problem with Aizen. From what he heard, those Espada guys were as strong as the Captains were and nearly everyone in Seireitei had become boring. Ikaku and Yumichika were good enough bouts but you couldn't fight the same opponent every time, there was now an emerging problem.

"Yeah, you think the opponents I was promised will be like that Ichigo kid?" That guy was tough, not as tough as Zaraki could have been if Instinct worked with him, but the potential for development meant a hell of a lot to him and he wouldn't mind clashing with him again. Knowing Aizen, that opportunity may be taken from him.

"Even tougher!" Yachiru happily declared, she had her own links with the other defector and had gained information about the Espada. "Baldy and Yumi will be happy too!"

"Who woulda thought those two would be with us to the end?" The two of them had been told about it when they showed potential as comrades. Aizen had been pissed, or as much as he could show, but Zaraki vouched for them and the two of them had pointed out that they were loyal to him to the end, plus they assumed that it would be a quick war.

That was reminded him of something.

"The fight's going to get violent from here. I shouldn't have brought you into all of this, don't you have that group to run?" For all that Zaraki enjoyed the fight, this was going to be serious. Yachiru was tough, real damn tough, but what if she ended up facing a Captain or that one of the Vice Captains were tougher? Zaraki wasn't sure if he could forgive himself if he just let her get run down like a dog, her memory being spat upon by everyone if they lost.

"If Ken-chan is going, then I'm going. Nana can take over the SWA while we're saving all the worlds and then I can take the position back when we win." Yachiru was not one to be deterred, though her group's membership might be reduced by one or two. The two of them could handle it, their line of work wasn't exactly the most peaceful, even when compared to the journey here.

"Fifty-three clouds." Zaraki noted, the clouds that were in the sky when he met Yachiru.

She seemed to smile when she heard that. "Let's make our first day a good one, Ken-chan."

* * *

"Well, this is something new."

Ichimaru Gin was just your average Captain of the Gotei 13 when he found himself arrested by the goons of the Second Division, by order of the Central 46, for the murder of Captain Aizen. He had been talking to little Hitsu about his suspicions on Aizen when this happened, he almost got some help from the kid when Aizen's pet showed up and told him 'everything'.

Toshiro really could be a kid sometimes. He just ate up everything that Momo fed him and, by the end of that little speech, looked at Gin as if he was a piece of crap. Weeks of trying to convince the kid that he could be trusted were destroyed in five minutes, and Rangiku was probably going to her that shit as well, he could only hope that she realised that he was getting screwed over.

Especially the part where he was supposed to have had copied Aizen's handwriting perfectly to frame Histugaya or when he had wiped out the Central 46. The two of them had been friends for years, nearly their entire lives, and it seemed that whoever had set him up was also now attempting to place all the blame on him.

Now they were making Seireitei their bitch while he was in a dark and damp cell with some interrogation specialist was acting like Gin was some treacherous grunt. Either Soi Fon wanted him to be out of the way via death or wanted him to play the part of a broken traitor who repeats his accusations.

"The number is five." One way of doing this was to make him see what he was supposed to see, not what he truly saw.

That grin of his had not moved one single bit when the question was said the first time and it wasn't moving the fifteenth. "I'm pretty sure it says three."

A violent shock entered his system once more. They had been growing in power each time and had taken longer to end, he was going to need to think of some good lines to combat this, he couldn't let the Third Division down by allowing Soi Fon the final word.

"Gin, why do you persist?" A tired tone was used, as if Gin was a child and not a Captain of the Gotei 13. "You have been found guilty for the murder of Captain Sosuke Aizen, massacre of the Central 46 and aiding the Ryoka in preventing the execution of Rukia Kuchiki, accept your fate."

"Is that what Soi-Sauce told you?" Years of careful information-gathering were not going to be wasted, he was going to make sure that people knew what was up, if they told someone, even in jest, he might reach someone. "You don't find it weird that she's hanging out with fucking _Yachiru_ all of a sudden or that I somehow found the time to kill both the Central 46 and Aizen in one night, without any witnesses?"

It didn't catch on and his interrogator simply continued to ask the same question.

"What is the number?"

"Of your mother? I'm afraid I rejected her advances, Rangiku's the girl for me." Gin had the feeling that Lima Syndrome was not going to be kicking in at any time soon. The shocks were becoming very painful, even for him, and he was starting to think about lying. He was always good at that.

"Wrong. The number is-"

The man was interrupted by Vice Captain Omaeda crashing through the floor, taking out a good portion of the room's roof, while the interrogator quickly turned to find a fist in his face. Courtesy of Rangiku Matsumoto, of course, while Izuru Kira, Gin's loyal Vice Captain who he saved from Aizen's corruption, simply looked apologetic for being late.

"Captain!" He must have noticed that Gin was not exactly in tip-top shape today, quickly getting the restraints undone and allowing Gin to stand up and explain everything to the two of them.

Or rather he would, if the experience of standing up was not incredibly painful for him to actually participate in, Gin decided that a nice stumble towards the ground would be the best course of action. Thankfully, he had just noticed the presence of Vice Captain Kotetsu who Rangiku motioned over so that Gin could explain how much he was not a traitor.

"Gin, are you alright?" Despite the early efforts of the 50 Foot Medic, Gin couldn't exactly go beyond a happy nod. "What's going on? Everyone is saying that you've apparently gone rogue Captain Tousen was killed by Captain Zaraki, the man's somehow got his sword working, Captain Konamura is near-death himself and all of Seireitei is entering a state of chaos."

"Damn," He was too late, Tousen could be dealt with but Zaraki was a monster. He would need to meet with Hitsugaya again, establish that Aizen planned all of this and his true shikai, Rangiku could help with that. "Where's the little Captain?"

Rangiku looked conflicted before telling, as if knowing that he wouldn't like the news. "He's by the execution platform with Momo."

Damn. More time had passed than he thought, if he didn't get to the platform on time, Rukia would be dead and Aizen's plan would move one step forward. Gin didn't know what it was but once he heard that the Central 46 were behind it, he quickly acted to find out more, the Captain of the Fifth Division always giving off a weird vibe.

"Gin, what's wrong?" Rangiku asked as Gin was forcing himself up, to the protests of Kotetsu, and motioned for Izuru to carry him towards where the execution platform was located. Rangiku also helped out in carrying Gin, despite her confusion.

"We need to head for the platform." He instructed them, not knowing how much time they had left until Rukia found herself getting incinerated. "Things are about to get complicated."

* * *

Toshiro Hitsugaya kept his eyes on Aizen, making sure that the traitor didn't make a single move. Momo seemed to be fine, only a small wound by her left side but the physical damage was probably dwarfed by the emotional horror of observing the man she looked up to slaughter three different people.

One of whom had been her dear friend.

His hopes had been raised when Captain Zaraki and most of the seated Eleventh Division officers had arrived on the scene, despite his apparent brutal attack on Captain Konamura, he had assumed that Zaraki's disappointment at the orange-haired Ryoka's fate had been mental preparation. He planned on backing up all of these men in fighting Aizen and taking down the traitor.

That was when Zaraki rushed towards Captain Kuchiki and gutted him like a fish. The noble had tried to save his sister from Aizen but had not expected the attack from Zaraki, his wound did not look life-threatening but it managed to keep him down for the count.

Hitsugaya's list of allies available had plummeted heavily, at that point, while Aizen simply rambled on about his plan.

"...Gin was a good piece, almost as good as Tousen. All I needed were a few certain words and suggestions to have him play his part perfectly after he became suspicious." Hitsugaya mentally cursed to himself. He should have listened to Matsumoto and aided her in rescuing Gin, Aizen had used the Central 46 and mutual suspicion against everyone.

"What the hell is going on?" The ryoka looked up and tried to glare at the Eleventh seated officers as much as he could, especially towards Zaraki. "You guys are a part of this?"

"We go back a long way." How long had Zaraki been working with Aizen, subverting Seireitei itself? Was he the man who killed the Central 46 for Aizen? More people would have allowed the illusion of debate to continue during Captain's meetings, Yumichika and Ikaku must have had fun while mocking those who they had fooled.

Yachiru was happy to answer. It was so close to how she normally acted that it disturbed him. "King Glasses managed to help Ken-chan master his zanpakuto. He can kick major butt." She changed his nickname, the king part seemed to appeal to Aizen, Yachiru then turned her attention to him and Momo. "Tell Nana she's in charge while I'm away!"

"Where the Captain goes, I go."

"The new world is going to be quite beautiful."

Both Ikaku and Yumichika didn't seem any different from how they normally acted. Ikaku being blindly loyal towards Zaraki while Yumichika was focused on making things look 'beautiful'. If their intention was to ease in the betrayal, it wasn't working, it only made things worse that people who Hitsugaya had worked with were carrying such secrets and didn't even blink.

Hinamori quickly brought him back to the real world, she seemed barely able to register how he had betrayed them. "C-Captain Aizen." She was clinging onto the hope that this was all a trick, or maybe she wanted to know how much of their time together was a lie. "How could you?"

"I'm sorry, Hinamori, but things went a bit astray," If Aizen was truly sorry, he didn't show it, he simply drew his zanpakuto and prepared to strike. "You won't remember much once we are finished."

Thankfully, before he could even try to get closer to them, Aizen found himself with two blades focused on his neck. One that was directed at the back was held by Captain Soi Fon, Hinamori's kido signal was able to work after all, and the other by the front was held by an unknown figure.

"Looks like you won't be so lucky." The mysterious woman told him, keeping a firm grip and looking at Aizen dangerously. It seemed that she had experience with Seireitei, Aizen in particular, and might have been a rogue Soul Reaper, one of Aizen's games that finally caught up with him.

The active Captain's and Vice Captain's now arrived to back up the early reinforcements. Soon Aizen was surrounded with little chance of escape, while Zaraki found himself flanked by just as much as Aizen was, with Captain Ichimaru being the leader of that group.

He directed his zanpakuto towards Zaraki's neck, Matsumoto had placed Haineko at Yumichika's throat while Ikaku got the honour of both Vice Captain Ise and Kira preparing to take him down. He would need to support Gin against Zaraki, Captain-Commander Yamamoto could easily destroy Aizen while Zaraki could be a heavy foe for the others.

Aizen remained undeterred by the threat that he now faced. "Ah, I was wondering when you and Captain Soi Fon would show up."

"Make a single move and your neck gets cut to bits." Captain Soi Fon was unconcerned with whether Aizen felt worried or not, it seemed. The crisis seemed to have been ended before it begun, if at a heavy cost, Yachiru looked like she had been denied candy for the first time in her life as the situation for the traitors became doomed.

"Meanie!"

"But what if my neck feels a bit stiff?" Aizen pretended to worry, turning his glance towards Seireitei, causing Hitsugaya's stomach to drop. "Or maybe you should deal with that."

As he said those words, three gigantic figures appeared and began to wreak havoc upon the fortress of order. He could recognise the three, they had been assigned to protect Seireitei from intruders who tried to break into the city and were now destroying the very place they were once loyal members of.

Was this the power of Aizen's zanpakuto, to turn such loyal Soul Reapers into mere tools?

"Three of the Gate Guardians?" The partner to Soi Fon looked shocked, not letting go of the blade she had, but also gazing upon the new attackers. "But-"

Captain Soi Fon then proceeded to, with a speed that Hitsugaya had never seen from her before, pierce the women right in the chest. Before any of them could react, Zaraki took the chance he was given and moved from Gin's path, Yumichika smashed the back of his head onto Matsumoto and both of them leapt towards Vice Captains Ise and Kira, forcing them down from the sheer weight of their spiritual power.

"Yoruichi," Said person looked as shocked as everyone else was with the betrayal of the Special Forces Head. "Captain Unohana should be able to heal your wound in time for us to make our escape."

She didn't seem happy about wounding this Yoruichi person but the latter looked even more heartbroken than Soi Fon was about the whole thing. "Soi..."

"You left me with nothing and you did not think that I wouldn't learn of Urahara's control over you?" Soi Fon bitterly declared, standing to the left side of Aizen while the Eleventh Division officers stood around him, forming a circular formation against the Gotei 13. "Lord Aizen had opened my eyes to what happened, I don't blame you for leaving, I will help you be free of _him_. The new world will be a great paradise."

She was clearly mad.

"Hinamori, stay close to me." Hitsugaya was not going to allow Momo to get dragged into this again, used as a pawn to remove those who may have ruined Aizen's plans. The fight was going to be a lot more difficult if the traitors were fighting together, he would need to make sure that she was close by so that none of the traitors got a lucky shot at her.

"Don't worry, Shiro-chan, Lord Aizen won't be getting the better of us." Momo felt just as determined as he did.

"Good, we'll need to work together on this if we expect to-" He paused, the mere second or two that he did allowed for a lot of thought. The registering of shocked looks from other Gotei 13 Captains and Vice Captains, and his own realisation, of what Momo had just called Aizen. "What do you mean Lord Aiz-"

A sharp pain came from his back, and quickly his chest felt horrific as well, as he saw a blade quickly be removed from his chest and the sounds of quiet sobbing be heard from behind him. Blood quickly gushed down his Captain's haori, the one he took pride in wearing, from both ends of the pain and his legs felt far too weak to carry his own body.

"Goodbye, Shiro-chan." Was all he heard, spoken in a broken tone of voice, before he saw Momo rush towards Aizen and the other traitors, a ray of light seemed to cover all of them before a single attack could be used. It was a nice contrast to the growing darkness that covered the area, had Captain Tousen not died after all and was using his Bankai?

It would be his luck that another Captain would be betraying them.

"CAPTAIN HISTUGAYA!" Matsumoto was always a bit too loud for his tastes, Toshiro Hitsugaya decided that it would be better to sleep and exit the nightmare at this point.

* * *

"I must say, Soi Fon, you and Zaraki have shown great initiative. Especially with your initiations."

Aizen wouldn't say he wasn't somewhat upset. He had placed a good deal of trust with Soi Fon and had been rewarded by her altering his plans immensely, perhaps it came with her motive for joining him but Hinamori had represented the past. He was more interested in the future.

Then again, Hinamori was much more trustworthy than Zaraki's pet seated officers. He suspected that both of them were hiding their true potential which was the only reason for him allowing them to join him, Zaraki being a loyal subordinate also played a strong party. The chains of the past could be changed into weapons for the future though, if you allowed for the right pressures.

"Hairbun-chan, is something the matter?" Ah Yachiru. Her manner allowed for Aizen to have others ask the questions that he found more bothersome than the results. Hinamori had been quiet ever since they arrived in Hueco Mundo and had not been that happy about having to deal with Captain Hitsugaya.

These signs of independence would not do.

"Will he understand?" She muttered to herself, trying to get over the fact that her dear old friend may be dead or in a coma for a period of time. "When we meet again, it will be as enemies."

"Only if he forgets the good times," Aizen had experience with picking up the pieces of those who were near to breaking. He quickly held Hinamori's face with one hand and made a caring gesture to her, she may still be suspicious about him faking his own death without telling her. "Momo, do you think you could work with me, even if I was planning on leaving you?"

For a matter of seconds, she looked conflicted, wondering whether it was all worth it. One look at his smiling face was all it took. "I will follow wherever you lead." She then wrapped her arms around him tightly, refusing to let go. "Because I love you."

"Blegh."

"There is a beauty to it."

If Ikaku and Yumichika were not idiots, they were hiding it very well. He was tempted to have Nnoitra end them once he had the free time, but Zaraki seemed to be attached to them, they may get along better with the rejected Espada, idiots working with failures to serve God. It had a poetic feel to it.

"Look! It's our super-awesome castle of fun!" Yachiru, while matching Zaraki's officers in terms of intellect, was much more powerful than she let on. She was not wrong though, Aizen did rather design the fortress to be a monument to the new era that he would bring in. Soi Fon looked to be as annoyed as he was with some of their partners but remained resolute that she was doing the right thing.

"Las Noches," He explained to a confused Hinamori, with a somewhat elaborate gesture, he motioned towards the castle. "The base where the new world will be made."

The game had now begun.


	2. Aftershock

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Bleach.**

* * *

**Chapter II: Aftershock**

Ichimaru Gin would have felt a sense of divine justice, if this happened a few years ago. He was vindicated in his suspicions of Aizen, and Soi Fon as well, everyone was now seeing him as the expert in the upcoming war and no one that he liked was dead.

Unfortunately, years of exposure to Rangiku and Izuru had meant the development of a conscience, always bad for a member of the Gotei 13, which led to him feeling bad for a lot of people who had their trust be ripped apart before their very eyes. Even then, some were refusing to believe it.

Gin avoided mentioning Tousen's part in the betrayal for some reason, maybe it had something to do with his friends passionately believing that he died fighting Zaraki to _save_ Seireitei, and simply ratted out those who they already knew. Gin was a pretty nice guy for doing that, in his opinion.

A Captain's meeting had been called, or rather both Captain and Vice Captain's meeting due to their presence, over how to replace those who had betrayed them for Aizen. Some absences, Byakuya, Konamura, Iba, Abarai and Hitsugaya, were noted due to their being curb-stomped during the attack.

Replacements would be needed quickly less due to the number of betrayals but due to the concentration of them. If it were just the Captains that betrayed them, the Vice-Captains could have simply taken over from there but when it's both main authority figures, the ground troops tended to start doubting whether their personal superiors were in the wrong.

The Eleventh Division were already muttering about Zaraki leaving 'like a boss' with few adequate successors, the Second Division all knew that Omaeda got his rank due to his position as a noble and the Fifth Division saw Aizen as a father and Hinamori as a sister. If they were placed under supervision, they may become discontent, but if they were also needed for the battle.

Hence, they needed to get replacements and fast, which was why Captain-Commander Yamamoto called the meeting.

"Do any of the Captains recommend a successor for the Second Division?" None of the seated officers were judged to be powerful enough, and their loyalty was less in doubt, so it would have to be a Vice Captain who could relate to said Division.

"Seinosuke could be convinced to return from retirement, it would be good for him to get back into the field." Captain Unohana always had a bit of nostalgia for her old Vice Captain, Gin once suspected him of working with Aizen, but the guy was too loyal for that to be the case.

Captain Kyoraku spoke against that idea. "Not to be rude, but Seinosuke ain't always the nice kid you think he is and his mental breakdown doesn't exactly help his case."

Of course not. Captain Unohana wasn't stupid, she must have been there when Seinosuke had snapped and tried to destroy Scalpel, yelling at random Fourth Division members for having 'purer' zanpakutos compared to his. Gin had suspected that foul play was involved, but the illusion at play wasn't in Aizen's play-book and relied on some deep knowledge that the man didn't have.

"The Second Division may benefit from the return of Yoruichi." Captain Ukitake suggested, it might bring in a sense of stability.

"She already said no." Omaeda cut in, earning a few glares but his point still stood. Yoruichi might have felt betrayed at the lack of trust, might be reluctant to accept that Soi Fon had gone traitor right then or even just got used to the freedom that exile brought with it. He saw little of her, before the exile, but had heard that she was not a fan of how constrictive the role of Captain was and often flaunted regulations. Still, they needed someone efficient and who could show the power needed to control any sympathisers.

"But perhaps on a temporary basis? Until we can find someone more permanent." Nanao Ise had just suggested that. Maybe she could take charge? Her role would be mostly paperwork and combat, if Gin managed to convince the Captain-Commander about his plan, and her shikai was supposed to be highly impressive.

That is, if the files Gin stole were correct.

A truth began to descend, with the size of the betrayals now sinking in, as Mayuri said what they were all thinking. "We may need some of the retired Vice Captains to enter the field again, as well as Vice Captains to take control of Divisions."

Gin had an idea of who would be chosen. The Second Division, depending on whether Yoruichi agreed or not, was already under control, but the other Divisions were less than likely to be accepting of certain choices. Fifth Division had been doted on by Aizen and Gin wasn't even sure if the seated officers remaining wouldn't just drop their weapons the second they think they can get away with it.

Eleventh Division focused on strength and the members defecting were the strongest they had ever seen. The issue had been that the sixth to ninth seats were rather the same in terms of strength and all of them were more or less psychotic drunks who would probably also defect once they saw their former commanders. The only one who might not commit to such a thing was the tenth seat who aided Rukia's rescue and he, in completely objective terms, sucked.

Well, best make do with what you have.

"The Fifth Division can have Izuru." Gin happily suggested, rather enjoying being seen as something other than non-trustworthy. "He used to serve in the Fifth Division until I managed to nab him from Aizen's claws." Captain-Commander Yamamoto seemed to be happy with this, it appeared that Gin's ideas might be taken a bit more seriously.

"Vice Captain Izuru Kira, you are to temporarily manage the Fifth Division until this crisis has been resolved."

Izuru looked shocked at what had just been offered. Gin had prevented him from becoming like Hinamori, a happy little pet for Aizen, but he had the feeling that similar feelings of admiration and awe were instead place onto him, if at a lesser extent than with Hinamori and Aizen. It was only going to be a temporary deal but Gin always had the slight worry that Izuru may take his admiration too far one day and start propositioning his Captain.

Then he would have to deal with Rangiku and Izuru fighting to the death over him, which would be a lot less fun than it sounded.

Oh, the pains of being Captain of the Third Division.

"Yes, Captain-Commander." Izuru thankfully said, hopefully he wouldn't have to deal with some widespread mutiny or attempt haircut. The Fifth Division were rather gentle and peaceful, but only due to Aizen making sure they were all loyal to him. The peaceful atmosphere could have been maintained with Hinamori there but their deadliness in combat could come to bite Seireitei in the arse. Not that Gin was fixated on the potential for betrayal by the Fifth Division or anything.

"Captain Konamura asked me to place Vice Captain Iba for the Eleventh." Yamamoto simply stated, he had always held the fox-man's opinions highly for his sense of justice and the choice itself made sense. Iba was the type of get along with men from the Eleventh Division, he had that same type attitude that many of them had, but also placed his true loyalty towards his Captain and the Captain-Commander.

Renji was another who might have been good for the position, especially with him achieving bankai, but Gin had the feeling that he wouldn't be interested and that Byakuya was more fond of simply keeping an eye on his Vice Captain. Besides, Iba's mother had been Gin's own Vice Captain for a short time and he felt some kind of compelling loyalty to aid her son in his career.

The daily letters asking for this very thing from said mother may have helped as well.

"Iba's wound were not too deep for him to resume duties. It will take a week though." Captain Unohana looked sure of this, although Vice Captain Sasakibe seemed to disagree.

"He will have to report for duty in three days, the Eleventh is still having troubles and we may need to take action otherwise." Action ranged from detaining a few bad eggs and purging the entire Division of potential dissenters and their buddies.

"We'll do what we can." Unohana promised as judgment could now be passed to those who

"As of now, Sosuke Aizen, Kenpachi Zaraki and Soi Fon are to be considered traitors to Seireitei and will be treated as such. Ikaku Madarame, Yumichika Ayasegawa and Hinamori Momo are guilty of aiding treason and are to be captured for trial or killed. Yachiru Kusajishi is to be captured and be questioned about how long Aizen has been planning his betrayal."

It made sense that Yachiru would get off. Everyone, despite her hyperactive attitude, had a soft spot for her and had no interest in cutting down a small child and even the Captain-Commander might be even feel that Yachiru was only following the only moral compass in her life. Ikaku, Yumichika, Soi Fon and even Hinamori had enough common sense to know when something was horsecrap, but Yachiru was different to many of them. Especially to those like Vice Captain Ise and Captain Unohana.

"What about for Aizen's threats towards the Ryoka?" Gin couldn't help but feel that the Ryoka were to be heavily involved in Aizen's plans and Gin himself felt that Kurosaki would be a good asset in the war against him, his growth in power in such a short time was incredible.

"A squad will be sent to monitor the Ryoka, the composition of said squad is being reviewed as we speak." Yamamoto seemed to realise this to, the Ryoka were stuck in this now. "Apart from Captain Ichimaru, you are dismissed."

As the crowd left the meeting room, Gin realised what this was going to mean. Out of everyone, only he had seen through Aizen's deception from the very start and had monitored his conversations. He was wrong about a few things (he thought that Mayuri was also going to make the jump) but it seemed that his proposal was being accepted.

Things were about to get a lot more intense.

* * *

"Hey Captain! How are you doing?"

Rangiku Matsumoto had decided to spend her free time after the big meeting to buy her Captain some gifts to show that she was doing something other than getting drunk with Captain Kyoraku about the depression of their Captain/Vice Captain of the betrayals they had suffered. Nanao had been close to Yachiru and Hinamori, she was apparently blaming herself for not spotting things earlier, while Captain Hitsugaya had been barely responsive since realising that his childhood friend had betrayed them.

On the bright side, the sounds coming from his mouth that sounded like a positive answer were more than enough for Matsumoto to see that he was doing better. The lack of sociability had meant that he was returning to his old self again instead of a medication-induced happiness about the colour of the walls being the same as his hair.

"That's great, Gin managed to be commended for his efforts against Aizen's evil plan and Captain Unohana has said that you can get back to your Captainly duties again soon." She was sure that 'Captainly' was a word and it would mean that the paperwork would start getting done again, Matsumoto tried her best but couldn't pay enough attention to actually get it done. It would also kill some rumours about certain small Captains being unfit for duty.

She now sympathised a bit more with her Captain's insistence on being as efficient as possible. A lot of people just saw him as a child who got lucky many times and that he would break down in a 'real' battle, the wound he suffered being evidence of this, Matsumoto couldn't decide whether it was the Eleventh Division's claim of weakness or the Fifth Division's claim of sympathy with Aizen's cause that infuriated her more.

The white-haired boy was now struggling to create what would be a lucid conversation, another sign that he was getting better. "Matsumoto..."

Some would argue that the fact that a proud (arrogant to some) Captain of the Gotei 13 being reduced to a mere patient that was struggling to breathe until a day ago, was proof that he wasn't ready for the rank. Other claimed that his closeness to Hinamori had meant that he knew about the betrayal beforehand.

Said others were now in a Fourth Division room due to injuries to the face.

"Yes, Captain?" Hitsugaya had always been there for her when Gin was acting distant, although now she knew the actual reason for that, and she wasn't going to abandon him now.

"I heard about the orders." From his previous moments of lucidity, Matsumoto could now inform Gin that another person would be in line for the "Fuck Sosuke Aizen" club without being wrong about it. Hopefully, he wouldn't do anything stupid with said anger but it wasn't his style to be an idiot about these things.

"Aizen will get what's coming to him."

"I need you to promise me something."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that Gin will leave something for you to take down when it comes to Aizen."

"It's about Momo."

She feared it would come to this. Whether it was because they were old friends, previous feelings of inferiority as his position as most important person in Hinamori's life was pushed away or something more, Toshiro Hitsugaya had remained defiant about this. He had refused to believe that she had gone to Aizen with a clear mind and insisted that Aizen's Kyoka Suigestu had something to do with it or that she wasn't being herself, she had wanted to think that it was alright for him to say this. After all, he was one of the closest to her.

But he wasn't the one who had to watch someone who he cared about deeply get pierced before his very eyes by someone who both of them had trusted. Haineko insisted that Tobiume was unlikely to be happy with this decision but that didn't get rid of some dark feeling in Matsumoto's stomach that using her own zanpakuto on Hinamori would be a good piece of justice.

That wasn't the issue though, the denial had to be confronted. "Captain-"

"We need to save her," He was firm enough on that, left very little room for argument. "She's being manipulated by Aizen into his toy and if I can just reach her then she might be able to help us."

"She stabbed you in the back." The amount of blood that came out seemed to shock even Hinamori when she pulled Tobiume out. The second the traitors had left, she had bolted towards Hitsugaya and tried to administer some kind of first aid before the Fourth Division took over from there.

"It wasn't her." He insisted on that point, before looking at the wall in front of him with pure hatred in his eyes. "I will kill Aizen, Soi Fon and everyone who had a hand in toying with Momo's mind."

He was still referring to her as Momo. Did he even register this or was it a show of defiance from the normally law-abiding Captain? "What if she refuses to let you near them?"

That managed to get him quiet. Soi Fon was apparently a lot stronger than she had always let on and Aizen had his Vice Captain wrapped around his finger, Hinamori was probably going to let Aizen or someone with his favour die over her cold dead body. Matsumoto knew who would win in a fight if they were aiming to kill, Hinamori would die before she hit the ground, but she was worried that the war was going to end with her Captain dead because he couldn't lay the final blow and she could.

"I'll talk to her and have her see the truth."

"You mean you'll just let her gut you aga-"

"_It was Aizen who did that_."

The entire room suddenly dropped in temperature and Captain Hitsugaya's voice had become much more quiet and deadly, as if Matsumoto was the enemy instead of Aizen and his cronies. It was a few seconds before he realised what he was doing and the room was quickly returning to normal in terms of temperature but it was still the fact that he almost threatened her that shocked her. He began murmuring apologies while looking guilty, wondering if she was going to leave him as well now.

Well if he was thinking that, then he wasn't that lucky because he was stuck with her.

"I'm not promising that I won't fight her or that I won't be sobbing about taking her down if we meet on the battlefield." A nod appeared, he had probably been expecting that. "But I won't aim to kill, not if I can help it."

"That's all I needed to hear."

As Matsumoto tried to push the topic onto less depressing things, to limited success, she was forced to leave once visiting hours had ended. She tried her best not to pity Captain Hitsugaya, knowing that he wouldn't like it, but she couldn't help herself as she gazed upon the hunched figure who was whispering his friend's name when he thought no one could hear him.

She was going to see Gin, she needed to get drunk enough to force out some bad feelings.

* * *

"Captain Unohana, are you alright?"

Isane Kotatsu had gone, reluctantly, with Captain Unohana to this place because Seireitei would need all the help it could get with Aizen's betrayal and the man they were trying to recruit was definitely an asset. Despite her personal feelings, that Seinosuke Yamada was a vain and arrogant man who had the opposite of Hanataro's positive attitude, she could tell that many potential deaths would be prevented if they succeeded him in coming out of retirement on a temporary basis.

It was always awkward for a Vice Captain to speak with their predecessor, the illogical worry that they were going to be replaced was always present, and it went double for Seinosuke who was rumoured to have been unhinged or had...non-professional feelings for Captain Unohana.

Speaking of Captain Unohana, she had seemed quite distracted from many things. She would still defend her Division members with a happy smile when riled-up Eleventh members starting targeting them and seemed fine but the trip had allowed Isane to see that Unohana's eyes were somewhat clouded and that she often took some time before answering Isane's questions.

Captain Unohana wasn't that attached to Aizen, she had been a part of the SWA with Hinamori and Soi Fon but wasn't closer to them as any other member was, Yachiru was to be taken with as few injuries as possible (as part of a silent agreement) and rarely interacted with any of the Eleventh Division defectors. Which left the question as to why she had been so impacted by the betrayal, although maybe it was something different.

For all of Seinosuke's flaws, he was always the apple in Captain Unohana's eyes and vice versa. His entire mood took a shift when she was in the room and had always strived to make her happy, perhaps such loyalty made things worse when his mental breakdown occurred and he had tried to destroy his own zanpakuto, claiming that it was a monster that would only harm.

"I can't help but feel that I'm responsible for all of this." It was as if she had read Isane's mind, the entire Division had felt discomfort after that incident. Poor Hanataro had seen it first-hand, having random things screamed at him while fifty different people had to completely placate him, he had never really gotten over what happened. His healing zanpakuto wasn't impressive to some Divisions but it had been an item of envy for Seinosuke.

Maybe that was why they didn't tell him about what they were doing.

"Vice Captain Yamada always felt uncomfortable about his shikai," Even now, she could only refer to him as Vice Captain when speaking of him outside her thoughts. "The pressure just got to him."

"The power to reattach what was broken and recreate what was destroyed." She must have been remembering some of what he had been able to do when called to heal, his mastery of healing kido had been admired but when he used Scalpel, people who were near death could return to life.

"And to detach what was repaired." It could turn people at perfect health into mere piles of flesh and bones, injuries that had been healed over time could open up again, Seinosuke being one of the few members of the Fourth Division who could also enter combat.

His morality was probably why Mayuri didn't try to steal him, though it didn't help his mental state.

"I knew how he acted around people. It was only around a few people that he managed to show more positive attributes, not even Hanataro saw much of it." Captain Unohana always knew these sorts of things. Perhaps she didn't mention anything because it was a shell to protect his mind from the trauma he often faced.

Seinosuke's residence had been in one of the fancier sides of Seireitei, built to ensure that he could live in comfort but also to prevent him from doing anything drastic. Hanataro had mentioned a few visits but had stopped after he found them too spirit-crushing, the Second Division reported that he was doing better and Isane chose to trust them, knowing that Soi Fon acted alone.

He looked better compared to when Isane last saw him, a dishevelled and maddened look on his face while blood was pouring down his mouth from his attempts to bite his zanakuto apart, begging for someone to destroy it for him. No one really figured out what would happen if a zanpakuto was destroyed completely, but to wish that on yourself was an area of self-loathing that few ever reached.

"C-Captain Unohana." Seinosuke stuttered out, looking ashamed to be caught in what was not the most formal wear in a room that wasn't the cleanest. "Come in, please, apologies for the state of the room."

Both Isane and Captain Unohana sat down on a sofa while Seinosuke sat himself on one of the chairs facing them, it was clear that pleasantries were something that neither party were interested in. Seinosuke and Isane were never good with it and Captain Unohana was more eager to simply cut to the chase.

"We need you back in the field."

A grimace entered Seinosuke's face, Isane imagined that he was somewhat enjoying his retirement. The extremely pale skin suggested that he didn't go out much but maybe he preferred a life of solitude, a life that didn't have him surrounded by death and the oxymoron of both vowing to avoid doing harm and cutting down Hollows.

"You know I can't." He merely said, in a meek and quiet tone that was very unlike him. "I have a cursed blade and a broken mind, I won't do much good."

"This war will take many of us out." Unohana responded, maybe trying to appeal to his side that couldn't let people just die. "If I do not survive, you're the best suited to try and take over in times of emergency while Isane gains bankai training."

"All I can do is harm." Seinosuke moved his legs onto his chair and wrapped his arms around them, almost looking like a scolded child, Isane might have laughed at the idea of the haughty Vice Captain Yamada doing this years ago. Now she only cursed the situation that caused this. "The healing was a mere token."

Isane was sent to prepare some tea, she had the feeling that the conversation that they were having was supposed to be private. She and Seinosuke had never been close, she was intimidated by him and he must have looked down on her like he did so many others, but every hand was needed and Hanataro would be more than happy to see that his brother would leave the house a bit more.

"Captain Aizen has the aid of the strongest in the Eleventh Division, a kido master and one of the most dangerous assassins we've produced. You might be able to save lives when Isane and I are on other areas of the battlefield." Isane felt that she should say that she could hear them speaking.

However, a small part of her told her to stay quiet and overhear them, she was betraying Captain Unohana's trust but she was curious to hear what they were saying and wanted to make sure that she was there to help immediately if Seinosuke entered a relapse whilst speaking to the Captain.

"Are others going to be approached?"

"Those who are able to serve." Not many then. Very few Vice Captains ever retired without some form of grievous injury and those that did were often too old or too traumatised by what they've seen. "I don't expect to survive the war."

"Captain Unohana!" Isane had to bite her own tongue to not join in with Seinosuke.

She couldn't die. Everyone knew that the Captain of the Fourth Division was a powerful Soul Reaper in her own right and wouldn't even be that much involved in the fighting. Was she sick with a disease? Did Aizen do something to her? Did she sense that she was somehow related in Aizen's plans?

"There is something I need to do, something that I had delayed for far too long." Isane could barely contain her worry. What did all of this have to do with the upcoming war? "It may be the key to our victory or to our destruction, all depending if I can succeed or not."

Isane had to prevent herself from fainting.

* * *

Momo wasn't an idiot. She could be excitable, perhaps, and over-eager at times but she was able to quickly discover how Lord Aizen and Soi Fon's surveillance system worked and how to use it when monitoring Las Noches and any meeting between any Hollow or Arrancar. One such meeting seemed to be between a good number of them and the topic seemed to surround the number of Soul Reapers who had joined Aizen's crusade to save the world of Hollows, humans and Soul Reapers alike and their impression of some of them was not that positive.

Zaraki seemed to have scared them all with both the potential power that he had hidden inside and his lust for battle being enormous, even by the standards of the Espada, which made him unquestionably a member of Lord Aizen's army. Soi Fon's position had been confirmed already, Momo had heard that force was used on anyone who challenged it, and she was already training some of the potential Espada candidates into becoming more tactical in their fighting.

Yachiru and Zaraki were a both or none thing so she was a given. Naturally, it was a given for change to be opposed by those happy with the status quo but the strongest fighting force for Lord Aizen really should know better, they were part of innovation and success that such change brought but they still doubted Ikaku and Yumichika. Despite their...eccentric nature, they were loyal to Zaraki to the end, she also knew how some of them saw her and wondered whether she could really fulfil Lord Aizen's purpose.

"What do you think?" The pink-haired Espada asked, the group standing in one of the hallways where they were hoping that no one could see them.

"I don't like it." Blue-hair declared, giving off an audible grunt before he had answered. Momo had thought he would be an issue, he didn't seem respectful enough towards the cause and only cared for the fight. "Zaraki is alright but the gang he brought along aren't shit and the bitch is watching our every move."

"Aizen's fuck-toy doesn't seem that threatening." The eye-patched Espada argued, causing Momo bristle in humiliation. She was aware that some had seen her as arm-candy back in Seireitei but she had always proven herself to be worth the rank of Vice Captain. Who was this Arrancar to question that?

Thankfully, the woman with green hair stood up for her. "Lord Aizen has judged her to be useful, we need to advance our abilities with cero and he has informed us that she is knowledgeable in such areas."

"Not all of us," The one with the strange mask said in a warped tone, it seemed that he didn't have much of an opinion, compared to when the other Espada had some form of facial expression to show their opinions. "Zaraki has no interest in such abilities and his brat seems to be trying to form a group for some reason."

"Adjustment." Yumichika had been over-hearing them for a while, something that Momo could easily see with the aid of the cameras she had. "Yachiru likes being in charge and being around people, she wants to form a group of female Arrancar and Lord Aizen approved of it."

So she wanted to form another Woman's Association. Perhaps it was a way to adjust as Yumichika suggested, there wasn't exactly an over-abundance of candy in Hueco Mundo so that couldn't be the reason, so Yachiru may want to gain some friends from this. Merging them and the SWA might even be good for encouraging the Hollow-Soul Reaper cooperation that Lord Aizen was aiming for.

"Lillinette would like that." The previously asleep Arrancar noted, getting some glares for his words but not much beyond that. Perhaps there was a reason that he was the First Espada.

The conversation continued on between the Espada, the largest now speaking with bloodlust in his tone. "When do we strike?"

"When Kurosaki returns to Karakura Town, as Lord Aizen had commanded." The emotionless one answered, perhaps wondering how the Tenth Espada could have forgotten such a detail.

By then, the Espada had not scattered and Momo was now alone which ended once Lord Aizen entered the observation chamber. Gone was the fatherly image that he portrayed with glasses in his eyes, they were now replaced with his hair being slicked back and white robes now replaced his Captain's uniform, Momo's own clothing making a similar colour change.

She knew why he was here. The second she agreed to join him, Tobiume had been opposed to what she was doing, but it was once she had attacked Shiro-chan that her zanpakuto truly began to struggle against her with all her might. Momo could remember the cries of her being a traitor and a murderer who wasn't worthy of a twig, causing some issues if she wanted to prove herself as useful to Lord Aizen's cause.

"Lord Aizen, how will this help?" He had claimed that he knew a way to make the bond between her and Tobiume more advanced but how would that work if Tobiume wasn't even speaking to her without declaring her to have betrayed a form of trust?

"When I tried this with Zaraki, I managed to make it speak to him and unlock his shikai." He calmly explained, drawing out his own zanpakuto to allow for the process to be done. "Who's to say that she won't aid in releasing bankai?"

Bankai? Granted Zaraki's bond with his zanpakuto was non-existent when Lord Aizen came to him but having no bond was better than having a broken one. She looked at her former Captain with worry in her eyes. "Tobiume hasn't spoken to me since..."

She still couldn't say it out loud. Momo was only included because Soi Fon knew what loyalty to a Captain you loved meant and poor Toshiro was not the type of person to have abandoned everything for her, Aizen had told her that it would be necessary to prove her commitment and the wound wouldn't stop him from being a Soul Reapoer.

Yet she still carried a large amount of regret.

"Which is why Kyoka Suigetsu is perfect for her." His soothing voice always seemed to make things better. She held out Tobiume on its side, without its sheath to expose it, and Lord Aizen tapped his own onto the middle part as the touched part began to glow.

Suddenly, Momo's head was suddenly surged with the thoughts of three different beings. She could see Tobiume struggling against something while a woman in regal clothing and a fan covering the lower half of her face was telling her something, it became clear that Tobiume was weakening in her defiance while Momo felt a similar voice as well. The voice was warm and reminded her of Lord Aizen, perhaps it came with working with him for so long for a zanpakuto like her, and quickly tried to have her and Tobiume come together, with limited results.

She saw herself fly closer to Tobiume until a great rush saw her force herself from her previous position and fall on the ground, in a non-dignified position, while it seemed that Aizen was unconcerned about the failure. Momo felt as if she should explain what happened, see if this had happened before and what went wrong, and discover whether bankai training was required.

"Lord...Aizen...I..." She couldn't finish her sentence, Hinamori Momo had quickly blacked out due to energy loss.

"The results will be interesting." Aizen noted, seeming unconcerned before pressing a button on the observation device, calling his right-hand woman. "Have Loly or Menoly move Momo to my quarters, she may be out for a period of time."

"Yes, Lord Aizen." Came the sharp voice, Soi Fon had quickly changed into a uniform of an Espada and knew that the attempt to induce bankai in Momo had failed. Instead, she chose to give her report on Arrancar training, making sure that they would be able to take down anything in their way. "Rudbornn is nearing the completion of his training, the Exequias should be a strong unit for the war ahead."

Aizen smiled, Rudbornn had been a particular project for Soi Fon, she had been impressed by his organisation of a unit and believed that he would make a good asset to Aizen's goals. Tousen probably would not have adopted any Fraccion, not like Soi Fon had or as Zaraki planned to do, the improvisations taken seemed to have only improved his position.

"Thank you, Soi Fon." Such a diligent worker bee, Aizen wondered whether he wouldn't keep her around for other purposes. Have Yoruichi tragically die in the battlefield right after realising her mistake.

All in good time.


	3. Foundations Planned

**Pretty good reception so far, hope I can continue to meet the standards set for me. Apologies if some characters haven't done much yet, I'm still working on establishing the main players in this and they will all be getting their bits as the chapters go on.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Bleach.**

* * *

**Chapter III: Foundations Planned**

"How long?"

It was then that Kisuke Urahara remembered how threatening Yoruichi had once been as Captain of the Second Division, a century of her being a cat and occasional slacker had dulled his memories of that. The woman was glaring at him with an emotion that had wounded him immensely for the past hundred years, a look he feared to ever gain from the Vizards.

The expression wasn't one of anger or hatred but of tiredness. As if they had already expected him to avoid the question because he had some plan and didn't want them to know, that a certain bit of information was kept from them because he didn't trust them, that their tragedy didn't even make him flinch.

That they had already stopped fighting because they knew it was pointless.

Still, the part of the wise clown was one that he had chosen, quickly adopting a joking tone. "Oh, if you mean when the cat food is done, I would say ab-"

A fist suddenly smashed into his face and he could feel his nose breaking during contact. It seemed that she was having one of those few moments when joking around wasn't tolerated, Urahara could understand, if something had happened to someone that close to him and someone who knew didn't tell him, he'd be furious too.

"How long were you going to keep quiet about Soi Fon?"

Kisuke had tried to set up a system of monitoring for quite some time, Gin had flat out refused to help for his own reasons and Mayuri only agreed if he could tell him what happened to the Vizards, so it took a very long time to get good information. It was around the 55 year mark that progress had been made and it was already too late for Kisuke to try and prevent Aizen from influencing the young Captain of the Second Division into becoming his pawn.

By the point that he started finding things out, Aizen had approached Soi Fon and made up a story about the poor princess and the evil wizard who brainwashed her into his pawn along with his corrupted friends and how he was planning on saving her with the help of her closest friend. It was a few more years from there that he decided to expand the story to the princess being an aide to the plan to save the kingdom by working with former enemies and some other tripe.

Aizen spent a hundred years manipulating an innocent person for the sake of tormenting old enemies.

"How would I have then be able to stop you from getting yourself killed?" That had managed to keep her from trying to gut him or burst into tears, the realisation that not even she would be able to fight off Aizen once he became serious. Soi Fon may have become a hostage or would have been killed in front of her to make a point.

"I wonder if he experimented on her," Yoruichi began, Kisuke becoming worried about whether she was torturing herself out of guilt. "Just as he did with the Vizards."

He sighed, knowing what she was doing to herself from experience. "You can't think like that. Aizen is probably hoping that you beat yourself up like this, Soi Fon may have become more powerful but I don't think that Aizen would allow her to die."

Outside interference was required to prevent the hybrid from having their soul rip itself apart. Aizen was a lot of things but wasteful was not one of them, it was more likely that he had placed Soi Fon to his side in order to try and draw out Yoruichi while also gaining access to wider resources to use in his plans. Kisuke did not know how much power Soi Fon actually gained or whether the element of surprise gave her a chance to strike, he was desperately hoping for the latter if they wanted a chance.

Yoruichi had now sat down opposite of Kisuke, as relaxed as she could have been when having an internal argument over whether she should have brought her apprentice along or not. Thankfully, due to decades of comradeship, he could tell that her mind was now moving onto other things, Tessai, Ururu and Jinta had managing things in the front side so it was good that they weren't seeing Yoruichi like this but Kisuke himself now seemed interested about what she was thinking. He had to repress the urge to ask about what she was thinking.

It was a good thing that she was so open about her feelings.

"What was that theory you had? The one about his zanpakuto?" That old chestnut?

"It was more Benihime's." He never placed too much stock in it, even recalling it was a task in itself. "She claimed that Aizen was always ambitious but that it was something else that was driving him to such extremes. The extent that he would betray and try to murder a handful of Captains and Vice Captains and openly cause rebellion."

Yoruichi snorted at that. "And Aizen the Super Nice Guy would only be more quiet about it?"

"Probably using poison to get his way to the position of Captain-Commander." Seeing Aizen as some sort of 19th century-like criminal, trying to get the deed to Seireitei Manor, did bring a smile to Kisuke's face.

"I guess we should say we got lucky but that would be bullshit."

"Kyoka Suigetsu." Yoruichi knew what he was talking about, the thing that Benihime's theory suggested was consciously aiding him before she was supposed to have gained a form.

"I thought zanpakuto were extension of a Soul Reaper's...soul." That was what they were all taught, they grew from Asauchi after taking in a part of their wielder's soul and becoming a part of the Soul Reaper themselves, that was how Oetsu Nimaiya had designed them to be. Then again, wouldn't that just make the zanpakuto modified souls without actual input, given to them by the Soul Reaper that chooses them?

"Perhaps, or maybe they aren't just blank slates, ready to be painted by our own souls." Benihime was a great partner, but it was pretty hard for him to find which part of himself had gone into her that wasn't already there when she came to him. "They might have gasps of individuality and those that keep on breathing are able to move around."

"An evolution?" Kisuke chuckled, pulling out Benihime and waving her around slightly for dramatic effect.

"Benihime is my evidence of this. She came to me and seemed to be more than just a part of me, her own person who chose me out of all of the others who she could have been with." Even then, that could have just been a part of his soul reacting, Benihime had the annoying habit of never answering his questions directly. Always using riddles, questions and diverting tactics that could get quite infuriating.

Every time he tried to vent about this, uproarious laughter often broke out for some reason.

"How come you never mentioned this?" Oh for many reasons, the cold reception he gained from the Vizards (misinterpreting it as painting Aizen as a victim) and it would require some awkward questions.

"If I wasn't laughed out the room, I'd find myself or her being tested on." That much was true, Captain Hikifune had been a wonderful and cheery person to be around but she always seemed to have that mad gleam in her eye when it came to experimenting that seemed to be the standard of Twelfth Division Captains. Kisuke Urahara had no intention of becoming evidence of that.

Now for the elephant in the room. "Aizen's the same?"

"Benihime and I are partners." This had to be handled delicately, phrasing it the wrong way would paint Aizen in an inaccurately positive way. "Aizen and Kyoka Suigetsu, and this is assuming that my theory is correct, are using each other for their own goals. Aizen wanted more power and that would have been jacked up to wanting godhood."

"So what would Kyoka Suigetsu want?" What does anything new really want?

"Survival, probably, she must know that her potential requires her user to become the ultimate authority if she is to survive." If he died as the Captain-Commander, Kyoka Suigetsu may just become a relic with few to actually use her to her maximum potential, something that would have infuriated her. If he became a God, on the other hand, she would be able to replicate herself in the design of other zanpakutos.

Though such a thing would risk rejects and failures, a worryingly large amount if Benihime was correct.

"So Aizen has a super-zanpakuto advising him, isn't yours the same?" Super-zanpakuto? Benihime was speaking to him less and less but he had the feeling that a regal girl like her wouldn't exactly like being simplified to that extent, especially when talking about 'the future of Seireitei itself, foolish kitten'.

"Not exactly, but Benihime did tell me one thing." The jokey tone was now completely gone. The theory may be lacking in actual evidence but Urahara's observations matched the evidence given by his partner in crime. "Kyoka Suigetsu may be the most powerful zanpakuto to exist, maybe even more than Ryujin Jakka if used properly. Benihime's bankai is powerful, you've seen it in action, but if they were to meet in battle, it wouldn't end very well."

Sisters never really get on well when it comes to rivalry. Zanpakuto were no different.

His face then returned to a smile, seeing that Yoruichi had both taken her mind of Soi Fon and was more conscious about what they were facing. "Considering if my theory is correct."

Kisuke Urahara really hoped it wasn't.

* * *

"Could this work?"

Soi Fon, former Captain of the Gotei 13 and joint second in command of the Fuerzas Aliadas, the army that would destroy all enemies, was kneeling before the throne of Lord Aizen. Very few had the right to even hear of his plans, let alone question them, but she had gained that right through years of loyalty and service, purging Seireitei of any 'trouble-makers' who were getting close to the truth about his plans. There were very few times where she ever did this, and only once where she ever deviated from them, but she felt confused about the actions being taken.

The Hogyoku needed time to recover, four months, to be precise. Despite her disgust towards the actions of the one who corrupted Lady Yoruichi, she had to admit that the eventual fusion of both spheres would create a being of great power, but she was unsure about whether it would be wise for Aizen to merge himself with it until he needed to combat the Royal Guard or Yamamoto. Doing it before then could allow them time to rally in the dimension of the Soul King and allow for a counter-attack.

If such criticisms bothered the god of Hueco Mundo, he did not show it. He merely looked down on her, thankfully this time because he was seated on his giant throne instead of their height difference, gave off that smile that won over many women, whether Arrancar or Soul Reaper, and set to put her doubts to rest. Soi Fon would be lying if she said that she didn't enjoy being his main advisor, most of the Espada were inadequate for their own reasons, Zaraki had little mind for tactics and Hinamori lacked experience and the ability to identify flaws in her leader.

"Seireitei knows that we need time to prepare but not how much." Two months at the least, six at the most. Soi Fon favoured the latter but knew that Aizen was more supportive of the former, wanting his victory to be unquestioned. "The more we damage their standing and weaken their forces, the better timing we have to strike."

"How many battles do we expect?" Casualties were to be expected in any battle, the ground forces would be devolved into Soul Reapers and Hollows ripping each other to pieces while the Arrancars and Espada would deal with the seated officers. Soi Fon had little intention of dying in a battlefield, she knew that facing the wrong Captain could make all the difference, and wanted to know how many times she would put her head on the line.

"One at the least, five at the most." Aizen looked the same as he was discussing the war situation, but a slight change in tone told Soi Fon everything. "Has Momo woken up yet?"

She was glad to see this side of him. There were times where she worried that he was another Urahara, seeing people as pawns to play with, but his bond with his former Vice Captain almost humanised him to her. The fact that it reminded her of Yoruichi and the bond they used to share had caused a mixture of regret and anger at how it was interrupted but it did work to also show what she was fighting for.

Yoruichi would be saved, it may take a while, but she would be saved.

"No, she may need more time to adjust to everything." That thing that Kyoka Suigestu did, all that the assassin knew was that it took three days and results could sometimes vary but there was always a degree of success. Thinking of projects being undertaken caused Soi Fon's mind to move towards another thing, the new Arrancar and the...modifications that had been made to it. "Would putting _him_ with Zaraki really be productive?"

"It'll be good enough, both of them have a single-mindedness for combat." She would have felt bad for Zaraki for the comparison if it wasn't so close to the truth. "You're excused."

With that, Soi Fon rose and stalked out of the throne room. The halls of Las Noches changed depending on the floor, the floor containing the throne room of Aizen giving off an overly elaborate and regal air that showed who was the ruler of this land, perhaps it was done to spite Barragan to remind him who had taken his position as King of Hueco Mundo away from him.

She had already decided on her destination, however, and it did not involve the deposed king at all. Instead, it was towards the area designated to the Exequias that she was making her way to, out of a sense of admiration and uncharacteristic glee (although well-hidden) at her project. She could recall the time when she had seen the abilities of both Rudbornn and the Calaveras that he could create, or rather the lack of them.

Rudbornn himself had some ability, that of two Vice Captains, but it was unrefined and the Calaveras were pitiful at best, compared to the expectations that Aizen had given her. Any well-organised squad of the Second Division would have cut down the Exequias with minimal casualties, it was clear that a challenge had been set to her by Aizen and that was to make them stronger.

As time went on, results were becoming obvious. The Calaveras were able to make independent decisions rather than be dependent on the instructions of thee one who spawned them and could actually be considered competent soldiers, with the ability to create more of their own number. They had become the elite soldiers of Aizen's army, able to match the weakest of the Arrancar, and Rudbornn himself was now a much more dangerous foe, although little match for a Captain in a prolonged battle.

The Arrancar himself seemed highly grateful towards Soi Fon for the training she gave both him and the Calveras. The weakness of her methods had been that the endless supply he once could summon was now restricted to ten, meaning that every loss was dangerous to the war effort, but he had every confidence in their ability to work around the problem and the Calaveras were unable to die outside the battlefield.

"Lady Soi Fon," He bowed towards the woman, despite the size difference between the two. "The arrangements are being made for the Exequias to expand in membership."

"Good. How efficient would they become if we had original members training them?" Around forty additional Calaveras had been be produced, the issue was that they would be right at the stage that Soi Fon had found the originals, meaning that training would be required.

"Not as much as you have strengthened us, but more than if you were forced to widen your attention alongside planning invasions." Such problems were to be expected, they may lose some of the recent Calaveras, but a training regiment before any battles could make it so that they wouldn't go alone.

Yet, she could detect a tone of uncertainty.

"You have issues?"

"None against Lord Aizen's vision."

"The sun looks nice today."

Disloyalty was death. Everyone knew that, the ends were to justify the means and Aizen had no intention of showing weakness. Yet, there was always a difference between disloyalty and simply being unsure about the strategies used, Soi Fon found that being a commander meant being able to crush the former and placate the latter, if there was an issue with the plan then it was easier to reassure them in the early stages and block thoughts of treason from developing. If that meant shutting off a camera for five minutes with coded phrases and voice recognition while discussing potential flaws in plans, then so be it.

If the seeds grow regardless, however, then the Hollows could always use a good meal.

"I have studied the human histories during reconnaissance and very little mentions the disappearance of a hundred thousand souls other than conspiracy theorists." So Aizen did tell Rudbornn about the Oken along with the Espada. Soi Fon was relieved to see that her advice could be taken, as always. "In order for a method to work, it would require actual evidence and would mean that a hundred thousand were killed at the same time with nothing remaining."

"Your point?"

"Such a method would only attract attention and a determination to prevent such events from happening. Why would the cautious and intelligent Lord Aizen use such a method when he knows that it may not work?" If it were possible, his eyes would have narrowed. "Unless he knows that it could be used to embolden the Ryoka and all Soul Reapers into sacrificing everything to stop him."

A soldier fighting in a war was always strongest when the very lives of not only themselves but everyone they know was at risk. When the very place they saw as their home was threatened with a bloody destruction, they would leap into the battlefield and fight to the very end, giving it everything that they possibly could. It also allowed for everyone willing to fight to be flushed out, a bad scenario if you're normally equally matched.

But if you wanted all of your enemies to be in the same battlefield, and you were confident in your own strength, there was nothing better.

Yamamoto would be thinking along the lines that any spiritually aware friends of the Ryoka would jump in to save their families, bolstering the ranks, or allowing for martyrs to be made.

"Survival is a strong method of motivation. I am trusting you to not mention this to anyone." She had little intention of losing favour with Aizen, nor did the Exequias need a stain on a soon to be made reputation.

"So I am correct? This is appreciated, the secret is safe with me." Rudbornn was nearly everything that Omaeda was not. Intelligent, efficient, able to strike fear and could actually tell a good joke, unfortunately he had continued the 'honoured tradition' of her direct subordinates having a bit of an ego. It was something that was never going away but it would need to be controlled during battle and the aftermath of the war.

Rudbornn quickly slipped away once the camera reactivated, perhaps starting with training the new Calaveras, while another was now sneaking in. Unlike the Arrancar, the excuse of being a subordinate did not exist but Aizen cared little for the relationships of loyal supporters as long as they didn't impact on his own plans, Soi Fon felt the presence of a shadow leaving and turned, only to find something completely different.

"Do you need anything from me?" The Espada known as Nelliel, occupying the position of 5th Espada, asked. Soi Fon did not care the hypocrisy of hating fighting yet also throwing yourself into the battlefield, but the Espada was certainly powerful and the two had been close ever since a certain duo had thought that Aizen's commands could be flaunted had been disciplined.

"No, the Privaron may be assigned to Momo or myself as Fraccion or be formed into their own unit, your inquiries were noted though." It wouldn't look good for a general to have their orders constantly questioned, better to have concerns relayed, spread out the questions so it only seems like a few doubts exist. It seemed foolish to simply hide away potential war assets, though Aizen wasn't the type to simply show all of his cards at the same time, he preferred to show them when his enemies thought they won.

"Anything for you, Lady Soi Fon, for what you did for me." Nelliel was hopefully not going to continue this after they won the war. Soi Fon had the feeling that these feelings being given to her could evolve into something disturbing, the way that she looked at her with loyalty and constantly saying how grateful she was for saving her subordinates.

"Our army would only collapse if left to bicker among themselves, thank me when you are in the battlefield." The curt response should have been good enough as the Espada returned to the shadows. Soi Fon returned to her chambers, planning on taking a rest before training the Exequias further. A war had to be won, after all.

* * *

"Captain Ichimaru Gin," Yamamoto drawled on, the grip that his aged hands had on the walking stick remaining loose but firm enough to keep it steady. "Your request for a defending force for Karakura Town taskforce has been accepted as have your recommendations for it."

What a pleasant surprise. That must have also meant that Mayuri was nearing completion of that project asked of him, the one that would create Seireitei's own Garganta, if a lot smaller and consuming of power, but that was the wonder of prototypes at work. Gin only hoped that Mayuri didn't decide that seeing the effects of being trapped halfway would be a rewarding experiment.

Mayuri wouldn't do that though. He and Gin shared a lot of characteristics, as much as Rangiku protested otherwise, and both understood that Aizen was probably not in the mood for unreliable underlings and Mayuri was not the type to meekly obey the orders of another. Both were free spirits who saw that Aizen was the greater evil, they simply disputed whether Aizen's actions were disgusting or merely misguided.

Still, Gin should probably be counting his victories instead. He managed to get Rangiku, Izuru, Toshiro (he was going to take advantage of this new trust by calling the other Captains by their first name) and Renji in his little team and was going to see whether his suspicions about Karakura Town were correct. Hopefully, he would get enough information to provide a firm defence of the place if Aizen decided to turn the place into his personal Oken factory.

"Ah, that's good." Gin's smile went from 'creepy but real' to 'happy but inquisitive', a distinction that only masters of reading Gin could understand. "I hope you didn't listen to any of the Ryoka about Urahara."

Call him nuts, though people avoided it ever since he had his "Gin Was Right, Bitches" party, but Urahara just plain creeped him out. The man, from what he saw, had the same sort of eyes as Aizen, always planning something and thinking that they were on a level above all others. What also didn't help was that Shinso had sensed something _wrong_ about that guy's zanpakuto as well, as if it was something completely different.

Knowing this, Gin made sure that everyone knew that he didn't trust Kisuke Urahara.

"Yoruichi has already declined the offer we made to her, Vice Captain Ise will be taking over affairs with the assistance of the fifth to third seated officers of the Second Division." A look if uncertainty reached the eyes of the Captain-Commander. "Captain Hitsugaya is something that we must discuss, his loyalty is not the issue."

"If it comes to blows, will he be able to take on Hinamori?" A nod was given. "The solution would be to have him take down Aizen's other goons."

The only question was whether Hinamori would even be herself in the oncoming battles.

"That was not the main issue either." That one came as a surprise. Gin quickly realised what the main reason was, thinking back to the Gillians who had submitted to him so easily, a question had to be brought into mind. "How many Vasto Lorde do you think he commands?"

Vasto Lorde, the highest level that a Hollow could ever reach. The actual number of them, due to the nature of Hollows, was pretty damn low but the power that came from devouring such numbers would have to be immense, their actual image was never actually recorded in anywhere other than the most forbidden books of the Great Spirit Library. They had ended up placing pictures of Gillians on there, from what Gin had been told, to avoid uncomfortable questions about their appearance.

"I've always wondered about that." More 'crapped his uniform in sheer fear' but he had the feeling that it would be a lot less impressive to say. "I don't suppose you could take them down?"

"I would have to be in too many places to count," Even the legendary Yamamoto couldn't be in more than two places at once, intelligent opponents would try and play cat and mouse with him, while the others had their fun slaughtering them all. "If he has twelve or more, they would overrun our defences and massacre us all."

Pretty damn depressing to hear.

"Are they like the stories I've heard?"

"If Aizen is in control of Hueco Mundo then he must have defeated their King."

"Hollows have a King?" Gin always thought that they just sort of did their own thing, when not devouring the souls of the innocent.

"The strongest among them." Yamamoto replied, looking as if he could recall a memory far back. "Barragan is his name and may be all we know now other than that he was the weakest of the first Vasto Lorde."

"How many were there?" Gin inquired, the knowledge of such things being either forbidden or destroyed.

"Eleven, four led them and seven were their servants."

Ah, so they were as the legend had said. One who could devour entire oceans worth of spiritual energy and not even blink, one whose power was so immense that a single wave of their sword could cut even the hardest metals like mere paper and one who had the power to turn everything he touched to mere dust. The seven lower Vasto Lorde weren't as powerful, though they still ravaged the very fabric of Seireitei, and all of them had required the joint efforts of Yamamoto and the Royal Guard to defeat them all.

Gin was wondering, though, what had the last Vasto Lorde done to not even be mentioned the very legends that their cohorts had been in. Was he the weakest? Had they more time, he would have pressed the issue further, but now was the time to discuss tactics.

"Aizen might be trying to recreate something similar, to bring fear into our hearts." He suggested, having eleven Vasto Lorde sent down to purge them would scare the shit out of a lot of Seireitei's army, maybe even a lot of the Vice Captains as well.

That was the problem of even starting a fight with Aizen. A lot of the guys needed to fight weren't exactly at their best in terms of morale with the betrayal of three Captains, two Vice Captains and two seated officers, this wouldn't really be helped by him taking Izuru on an adventure to the human world, only being able to contact the Fifth Division via sent communications.

Added with the natural suspicion of other Divisions who didn't have rogue officers and you got a tinderbox in your hands.

Gin sighed, wondering if his next words were to convince himself of this as well. "I will admit to having less knowledge than my reputation gives off," He admitted, throwing his hands up in a mocking gesture of surrender. "However, I can say that we don't need to worry about an out and out invasion yet."

"How so?"

"Aizen was able to trick us for a hundred years, that's his great weakness."

"Explain."

"Why didn't he just poison your tea, if he wanted the Oken?" Eyes rose, very briefly and not by much, but they still went up. "He could have spent the century positioning himself as the best successor, slipped in a poison and used Kyoka Suigetsu to fool everyone, you die and he becomes Captain-Commander, and then kills the Soul King. I wouldn't be able to stop it, so why gather some secret conspiracy and start a war? To put it simply, he's doing all of this because he wants one.

He wants an epic tale of how he not only defeated us, but how we never even had a damn chance against his power and intelligence, he wants to be the man to have conquered the legendary Yamamoto. Aizen wants to be seen as a god by destroying anyone who comes near to his power and doing it with no way of people claiming he could be stopped. Having you poisoned would question his power and just having all of his guys be dropped into Seireitei to butcher the place would also make him look like he needed to take us by surprise and wouldn't be that epic a tale.

Aizen isn't going to attack us because he wants us to lose to a plan that he thought up for a hundred years, never giving us a single chance to fight back. The man is addicted to making his entire victory seem effortless and part of one single strategy, deviating from it or creating something new would just damage the internal myth."

Yamamoto took in the speech and seemed impressed that Gin was able to argue to such an extent. A battle was obvious, maybe even desired to sample enemy strength, but it wouldn't be a case of Aizen opening up hundreds of Garganta above their heads and dropping a few thousand Hollows onto them, backed up by the Vasto Lorde. They were being given time to prepare due to Aizen's ego.

"We'll just have to prevent that then." He announced, likely to now give some advice for Gin to relate to the rest of his team. "Try to fit into the environment, do not alienate humans with spiritual potential, they may be of great service when the battles begin."

"How do they rank? The healer girl, the guy with the arms, how do their friends do?" He heard that one of them could throw some punches and kicks to save their life, better than Kurosaki anyway, so perhaps if she gained a slight power-boost she may be of some worth.

"Not enough to be of use."

Perhaps he was being too optimistic but Yamamoto seemed to shoot down the idea quickly. Maybe it was because they weren't even sure if the Ryoka's friends could even see spirits, only three or four of them were likely to do so, even then it seemed unlikely that they would grow beyond that. It would be better to make sure that Urahara didn't try anything funny on them instead.

"Alright then." Gin conceded, the meeting ended and he quickly set off to grab his team and have them ready in a matter of hours while Rangiku got ready for a fun night in a matter of hours, courtesy of Ichimaru Gin and his own mini-Shinso.

The actual Shinso made a silent vow to get back at his master for such a bad pun.

* * *

"Listen, these guys are just gonna get hurt if you continue on this?" Shinji Hirako, origins unknown, was getting uncomfortably close to Kurosaki Ichigo for Agent B3's liking. Not only was he aware of the effects of the presence of a 'Hollow' inside someone's soul, but he was part of the 'Vizards' group that had avoided numerous attempts at surveillance, meaning that they may be hiding something.

B3 didn't enjoy this job. He barely knew enough Japanese to get around, he barely had any contact with Team A, who were not fond of any jokes about switching around their name, and it appeared that he wasn't going to find much out about what really happened. Still, he knew what he was getting into when he signed up for this sort of thing.

"What do you mean?" Kurosaki sounded sceptical, though it was poorly shown when it was obvious that he wanted to know more about what was happening to him, Hirako looked to notice this and went on his rant.

"It's getting louder at a time when you really need to start controlling it, aint it." It wasn't a question, it was a statement of fact. Kurosaki seemed to recognise this and had tensed up, Hirako then looked down on the building that B3 had made his hiding place with a dark scowl on his face, the gig was clearly up. "Factions are gatherings and the last thing anyone needs is your roommate getting louder each day."

Shit, he could see B3 all along. How powerful were these Soul Reapers?

"What do you want to happen?" Kurosaki muttered, sounding very conflicted about what was being said. He didn't trust the Vizards, good for B3 and his associates, but it sounded like he was going to listen to them a lot more than what was preferred.

"Join us and ditch the Soul Reapers." Sense All Things wasn't any use, at the moment, but it was easy to tell that Kurosaki had tensed up at that demand. He had history with them, from what the file had told him. "They're not exactly our biggest fans."

It was a while before both Kurosaki was out of range, too distracted to sense the hidden observer, and Hirako decided that causing a scene would only attract unwanted attention (B3's ego said his allies, his common sense said the Soul Reapers). B3 quickly whipped out his phone and contacted Squad A in Naruki City, with any luck, one of them should be there to take his call so that he could make it clear what was happening.

The bad news would have to be that Kurosaki was lost to the Vizards, the Hollow part of him was probably too unstable to control, but the turf war that would be breaking out was now made much harder if he completely joined up with them. He didn't know how powerful these guys were, their mysterious background essentially consisted of a range of purchases from surrounding businesses, and he had little intention of dying for some guys in Naruki City.

Less than ten seconds passed before the phone was picked up, but it felt like hours.

"Yeah, they've approached him," Mr Tsukishima was the one to pick up the phone, if the Vizards were as strong as they were told, XCution needed to be ready for anything, especially with the dead starting to get into fights with each other. The response was clear, any movement by their rivals, albeit unknowing, needed to be matched. "Indeed, maybe we should approach the other candidates to combat this, have them unlock their Fullbrings."

* * *

_"How's it going on your end?"_

_"I don't think they know exactly what's planned, some of them know we're hiding something, but it's probably something else."_

_"Well, keep it that way. One fuck-up and we're screwed."_

_"Got it...I didn't think you would be-"_

_"Save it. Anything that goes towards the cause is fine by me, even if we have to die."_

_"Of course, we're loyal to the end when it comes to keeping his name clean."_

_"Loyal to the end."_

_"Don't be so down, we may go off with a bang."_


	4. Warning Shots

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Bleach.**

* * *

**Chapter IV: Warning Shots**

"Mr Tsukishima? What time do you suppose will it be when we find Ms Arisawa?"

This was why they kept the XCution squads separate. Tsukishima could see how having more Fullbrings on call could help, around ten more were expected to arrive soon, along with some new recruits, but many of them often became rather annoying to be around. Even the sum total of a few hours around these people was near-unbearable, with their damn lack of manner and patience.

B1 had been the person asking the question. Tsukishima could see why Ginjo would think that he could get along with the man, they both had the same coloured hair and eyes and even their clothing was the same business-like style, though B1's hair was much shorter and his eyes hid a look of frustration. The code-names were never used for Squad A, the founders of XCution, and he had little intention of keeping up the farce.

Not even the clear night sky, often quite good at restoring peace of mind, had done little to relieve his headache.

"Relax, James-san," James looked somewhat offended to be referred to by his actual name. His eyes became an actual scowl and glared at Tsukishima. "Why not enjoy the scenery of Japan?"

James seemed to sigh at this, perhaps he had been misinterpreting his frustration. "I prefer keeping to a schedule." He said, seeming to be more like having everything be rushed to fit his own little schedule. "I am enjoying what I'm seeing, it's just a thing I have."

"Of course, I understand completely." James had an attitude problem and no one had the guts to tell him to grow up about it. However, now was not the time to play therapist with the underlings, a united mission statement was more important. "You know why you were called?"

B2 and B3, formerly silent and not really saying anything, perked up at that. B2 was the only female of their little gang, a nice blonde-haired girl with eyes of topaz (in the words of second-rate poets), seemed to be the bravest one of them, and thus just barely more annoying than James had been.

On second thought, perhaps just referring them to their code-names would help with dehumanising them and pretending that they were delusions. Was this what Tsukishima's victims had to deal with? He'd almost felt bad for tampering with their memories if that was true.

Key word being almost.

"Those Vizard guys right?" B2 said, looking agitated. Then again, calling for back-up in XCution was a pretty strong sign of weakness, meaning that the enemy was really strong and one that smart or weak people tried to avoid. "Brian told us everything, these guys are supposed to be tough so you called for back-up."

"Don't be so direct, Katie." B1 reprimanded, although it was difficult to tell whether it was actually her clipped tone towards the man who was their superior or whether it was because she didn't stick with the assigned names. Americans seemed very tricky to handle, though those two were trying more than Brian (B3) was.

Weighing up who he disliked the least, Tsukishima decided to let B2 off the hook, for now. "She did hit the nail on the head." Now for the unfortunate truth, the reason why he was forced to cater to these fools. "We need new members from here beyond that, questions may be raised on why so many foreigners are congregating in a small place like Karakura Town, so less people could be called."

They seemed to understand the logic of such moves, not even asking why Naruki City wouldn't be a better area (even more attention may be gained as police were more likely to be on the look-out for gangs), perhaps there was hope for the other wings of XCution after all. Though it was likely that this hope would be crushed in time, as did many of Tsukishima's hopes during his lifetime.

"Who are we looking at?" B1 asked, relenting on the matter.

"Riruka is going to be sent in to approach the candidates at Karakura High, two of whom are being approached as we speak. We'll need your help with training them and in confronting these people when the war inevitably arrives." They were still trying to track the Vizards without getting caught, something that Squad B had been brought into do in the first place, to little avail.

"Why are they an issue? They've been here for a while, so why are they now the main problem to deal with?"

Ah, B3, how annoying he turned out to be.

Due to flight issues, Tsukishima had the utter misfortune of meeting B3 first out of Squad B, and quickly realised that the man was either an absolute idiot who couldn't obey simple instructions, or the most brilliant trickster in the world. His shaggy blonde hair, large black trench-coat and damn sunglasses stuck out easily in a crowd, thus making XCution's attempts at staying below the radar quite undermined. Yet, the most annoying thing about B3 was that Tsukishima couldn't do anything to him without a good excuse.

Ginjo had told him that all of Squad B would be useful and that it wouldn't present a good image to the others if it looked like their life expectancy would fall dramatically, Book of the End was also forbidden due to 'habits' of his to go a bit too far. B3's skill in finding and taking down people was, somehow, also valued very highly with the use of his Fullbring being good for this sort of thing, Tsukishima was wondering why ability always ended up with the idiots.

He did have one advantage over Squad B, and that was his rank.

"What is the aim of XCution?"

"Increase our strength, crush our enemies and get into Heaven." B1 answered, confused about what they meant.

"Exactly. These Vizards aren't just a bunch of spiritually-aware humans," A nice little dramatic pause to build up suspense. "They're hybrids of Soul Reapers and Hollows, breaking through into a level of power that we may never get the chance to see again, if we were to gain their power, we would be nigh-unstoppable and could even find a way into Heaven."

That was what kept XCution together. Hollows seemed to like power and that had passed on towards the children that absorbed their powers, the reasons often varied but it was all the same, all three of the fools placed their attention on Tsukishima with a more intense gaze. Finally realising that the reward outweighed any discomfort, B1 and B2 seemed to realise that it was better to stay silent.

B3, however, couldn't keep his mouth shut. "And beating them, let alone taking their power, is going to be a tough job. Look, I know you guys are enjoying the whole 'secret club' thing but this would be a lot easier if you let us call fifty of our best and then just rush these guys into the-"

Ten days without an incident. He really hoped that B3 loved doing that impression of a street gangster, because it was going to be the last thing he ever did, if he said another thing that was both already addressed before and was stupid. Having near sixty people, once you factored in Squads A and B along with the new recruits, in one area was something similar to insane and would attract far more attention than needed towards figures like Yukio and Jackie.

"Your questioning was amusing before, now it's not." He told the man, keeping a firm grip on the man's throat. B1 and B2 wisely keeping their distance from him. "Are my orders understood?"

"Yeah, yeah." Was gasped out by the fool, Tsukishima decided to be merciful and let him go. All three of them looked at him as if he was crazy, perhaps hoping that they did not join a group that intended to kill them, but he stopped caring a while back. They would all be gone soon enough and XCution could run as it should be, with different people in different places.

He did wonder if the others were having better luck than him.

* * *

"Are you enjoying yourself?"

Mizuiro Kojima needed this. Ichigo had been acting weird these past few months, so had Orihime and Chad, while everything seemed to be getting strange in the sense that his (non-existent) mother actually called him, rather than him trying to call her. Yes, it was just to scold him for not doing well in his exams and that he was wasting his potential, but it was still strange for her to actually care.

Oh and the whole "I see dead people" thing, as well. That was a bit of a shock.

However, he was never one to let such things get in the way of his life. He already ended the relationship with Misa and was looking for someone else to go out with, his inferiority complex forcing him to find some avenue of affection because he was pathetic like that, led to him meet up with this lovely woman. She had an exotic feel to her, being from outside Japan, but also seemed good with the language which eliminated the barrier there.

Not only that, but she also had a friend who expressed an interest with Mizuiro's very good friend, Keigo Asano, a much nicer person than him who probably deserved a date or two. Both dates were in the same restaurant in Naruki City, on different tables though, so that Mizuiro and his date could make sure that their counterparts didn't do anything too silly, which looked to be noticed if Keigo's thumbs-up and his date's angry expression were to be believed.

Now that Ichigo was back, it looked like things were finally getting back to normal, despite the change in attitude being somewhat different. Orihime still seemed as chipper as ever, maybe Rukia having to go home got rid of a potential rival, while Chad himself was the same guy as always. Mizuiro wondered if he was such scum as to think that someone like Orihime would approach the loss of a friend in such cynical terms.

Enough self-loathing for the moment, he didn't want to alienate his date, especially in the middle of the day.

"You really knew a great place to go." He complimented Ms Jackie, the dark-skinned woman looking a bit too neutral for his liking. "It's nothing compared to you though."

That seemed to cheer her up, blushing slightly and thanking him for the compliment. The sounds of laughter could be heard across the room and it seemed as if Keigo had finally made some sort of connection with Ms Riruka, proving that miracles could happen, and it seemed that the site helped Jackie's mood as well.

"I can't thank you enough for also helping my friend get out of the house." She told him, with a slight hint of deception among the sincerity she was trying to show. Mizuiro could understand some girls like that, using the date-less friend as an excuse to repel potentially selfish guys who wanted to get into her bed.

"It was no problem, Keigo was always wondering how he could find a date and we merely showed him the opportunity." He beamed, wondering what was taking the food so long.

Jackie gave him a nice smile, looking like she admired his loyalty to his companion. "You're a really good friend."

"It's a mutual thing." Mizuiro sometimes wondered what his life would have been without meeting Keigo. It was a rather depressing train of thought. "He helped out during a time where I felt really isolated from everything."

"That's sweet, you two seem really close," Jackie had a little giggle at that, Mizuiro's activities with women had prevented any rumours on his relationship with Keigo, but it seemed that said friendship was enhancing his chances of Jackie being even closer to him. "Though not as close as we will be after you read this."

A slip of paper seemed to be pulled out, Mizuiro was willing to play along with this, if it got them back to her place, a warm smile now entering his face. "A love letter? How sweet of you."

Taking the paper, he opened it up, expecting some sort of crude suggestion that went against Jackie's appearance.

_Say anything or try to disobey and Keigo Asano dies painfully._

"You seem to have taken this very well." Jackie noted, seeing that her 'date' had yet to even look angry at her. Maybe she was expecting, or even hoping, for a vow of revenge or something just as clichéd, but he wasn't going to play her little game. He turned to see that Keigo got a similar letter as him and was obviously shaking in fear at the threat of death.

"I'm very good at wearing a mask." Women were often more likely to trust someone with a smile than a grimace or a glare, such people caused less of a scene. "Rest assured, I am absolutely furious, and I am having the most violent revenge fantasies right now."

"Whatever, just come quietly and let me handle this from here." Jackie didn't seem very bothered by the implications given, Mizuiro was quite serious about the fantasies, if they were placed in a film it would be banned in multiple countries, but that meant little in the long term. He had to focus on small victories.

"Funny, I was going to say something similar when we reached my apartment." Another smile from Jackie, if that was her real name, came on but she quickly suppressed it, not wanting to show any sign of 'weakness' in the face of her hostage.

The two of them left the restaurant and headed towards a conveniently parked car, Keigo and Riruka not far behind, and the two students were forced into the back as Riruka sat in front of them. The seating arrangement of the car seemed to be based on having three seats in the back while another three faced them, almost as if it was regularly used for interrogating people or allowing them to pretend that they're going backwards.

It was clear that the latter wasn't why Riruka sat there. Keigo had been having a minor panic attack over what was happening and was looking for anything to latch onto, for the sake of mental stabilisation, and had chosen Mizuiro to be his anchor-point, visibly shaking in fear in contrast to the apathy that that being shown by Mizuiro.

"Mizuiro, what the hell is happening?" He asked, looking frightened as all hell, which was understandable when your life is being threatened by two women who may be linked into something very large, it seemed that the two of them had something to attract attention. Did it have anything to do with Ichigo, Orihime and Chad?

"I thought your companion would have told you." That was a lie. Riruka looked arrogant but she never seemed stupid, her ability to pull a façade of being a kind person seemed to be very high-quality when looking at her angry expression in comparison.

"Here's a card, for your troubles." She threw a business-card at Keigo, Mizuiro barely being able to read the word 'XCution' on it, not being the most friendly thing to have on a card meant for socialising. "Though someone as unappealing as you really shouldn't be asking for anything."

Keigo looked hurt at that. Mizuiro had seen that his friend thought that Riruka was actually interested in him, now realising that he was just manipulated into being a hostage for some shady group, and her words were probably designed to exploit that fact. It was becoming very clear why she did not get out that often, judging by how pale her skin was.

"What a bitter soul you must have, behind all that sugary appearance."

That had gained her attention, if looks could kill, there would have been a burnt husk sitting next to Keigo on the way to wherever they were supposed to go. She then reached for an object that had been hidden under the unoccupied third seat in the middle of the car, until Jackie grabbed her wrist. What was the object that was going to be used on him?

"Relax, Riruka, you need to stay calm, if we're going to survive the battles ahead." Jackie advised, Riruka reluctantly putting her hand back where it used to be.

Battles ahead? That never sounded good, unless this was all a very cruel joke by someone at their school, it seemed as if the two of them had found themselves in some kind of turf-war between gangs of some sort. The car had finally pulled up near a building and both Mizuiro and Keigo were quickly blindfolded by Jackie and Riruka's friends, or at least associates, and went through a speedy process of grabbing and tying to chairs.

By the time Mizuiro's thoughts became clear, he found both himself and Mizuiro facing a larger group of people. One of them was behind a bar-counter and preparing a drink, having the standard bar-tender look, another had been a smallish blonde kid who was playing on a handheld console while the last one was a large man with slick hair and a black jacket over his white shirt. He looked somewhat threatening, but also welcoming, with his smile as if he knew he looked dangerous and wanted to give a more safe vibe because of it.

"Hi, sorry about the method of transportation, but welcome to XCution."

Mizuiro didn't buy it for a bit.

"Who are you going to kidnap next?" It was an actual thought on his mind. Ichigo was probably safe at home and Chad and Tatsuki could defend themselves, but what about the others? Orihime lived alone and was vulnerable, Uryuu may be blackmailed by threats to the previous, Chizuru had few actual methods of defence and Ichigo, Chad and Tatsuki would be forced to approach them without resistance if they got the others. Not to mention, Mahana, Michiru and Ryo could be convenient hostages as well.

Laughing from the boss, judging by how everyone deferred to him. "Not kidnap," This was going to be interesting, taking someone to a mysterious location without their consent? He wondered what these guys called it. "We prefer the term, unleashing your full potential."

"Full potential? Mizuiro, we've been kidnapped by a bunch of nutjobs." Keigo was on the ball today, seeing that kidnapping to unleash 'full potential' was often followed by either mass suicide, not helped by the name of the group, or some type of drugging.

None of which was something Mizuiro was that psyched about.

"Come now, surely you've been wondering about some things." The bartender cut in, acting like a mentor wondering why the problem hadn't been solved yet. "Why do mysterious things only seem to happen to you or your group of friends? Why Ichigo Kurosaki seems to either disappear or have a slightly different personality?"

"Stay away from Ichigo." Keigo warned, trying to look as imposing as someone strapped to a chair and having a panic attack five minutes ago could be.

Mizuiro wanted to do his part in warning off these 'XCution' guys. "Harm our friends and we won't be so cooperative." He wasn't expecting anyone to suddenly become afraid or creeped out, especially as he brought in the same smile as he used on his date, but the laughter from the leader seemed somewhat out of touch.

"Harm them? Oh, Kojima-san, you are so much like your father." The bartender replied, maintaining most of his focus on the drink he was producing.

"My...father?"

"Kaji Kojima. I never knew the man, but his profile was public enough to show that he was secretive about his wife and wealth. Died from falling off a building, didn't he, your mother must have been heartbroken."

That got his attention, the Kojima name had mostly been small but affluent. From the internet, his father had gained a reputation for being very effective in building up his fortune from stock speculation but also in trying to gain the notice of a certain woman who did not gain the approval of his family. Oichi Kokujo had been labelled a hussy, a fair estimate in Mizuiro's opinion, who was using her womanly wiles to make the prodigal son be enchanted by her, they were married shortly after meeting and soon had a child on the way.

Unfortunately, his father had his bad luck catch up to him and he would accidentally fall to his death while at a party, his mother had also slipped but had managed to prevent herself from falling. Many others at the same party had stated that they almost fell nearly after seeing something, probably while the family didn't accuse his mother of trying to murder him, with a desire to avoid a public and messy dispute, a blank cheque was offered in exchange for not trying to sully the name further.

Mizuiro's mother agreed and both of them had been doing what they liked since. He was tolerated due to his luck with women and lack of actually spending much, making him appear as a good investment despite poor grades, while his mother was all but loathed due to her extravagant parties and multiple boyfriends. It was mutual, of course.

"My mother doesn't exist." That seemed to get a sigh of frustration from the main guy, who looked as if his point was being undermined.

"Teenage rebel, it's always one of them. Look, didn't your mother ever talk about what they saw on the day he died?" The man in the jacket asked, causing Mizuiro to wonder where he was actually going with this.

"If she did exist, she would be more interested in parties and trips." He rebutted, with a bit more bitterness than he thought, before seeing that the boss of XCution had little intention of playing therapist with the captives. Shame, he might have developed Lima Syndrome and helped them out.

"Well, she testified that both of them saw a strange image that looked like a human head with a bone mask on. That was the thing that got our attention, now we don't really know or care what happened to it, but that makes you special."

Keigo, contrary to his reputation as an idiot, quickly figured where this was going and went on the verbal attack, trying to find out more about why he was taken as well. "What about me?"

"Your parents both survived a Hollow attack." Mizuiro would have wondered what a Hollow was, but had the feeling that it would all be answered soon. "Know what that means?"

"I have the feeling you're going to tell us."

"You're Fullbrings," The man answered, before leaping into a lecture. "Some of the power of those Hollows leaked into you guys while your mothers were still pregnant, it's likely that you guys have these powers inside you as well. We're a group of Fullbrings, all over the world, called XCution, the name's Kugo Ginjo just so you know. Our aim is to gather us all up and make sure that we're ready to stop both those Hollows and the Soul Reapers."

"Soul Reapers?" The opposite to those things on the Kanonji show?

"They're the police of the spiritual realm. When you die, you become a spirit, like the ones that you've seen yourself or the ones on the Don Kanonji show, and you just wonder around waiting to move on. The Soul Reapers, in Japan at least, are the ones who send you guys on your way but they can only get to so many. Those who don't get to move on, if enough time passes, lose all hope and their hearts break down into something else, the mask of a Hollow.

A hole shows up where their heart once was and they essentially just wreck shit out of sheer instinct, the Soul Reapers then jump in and purify the soul, sending it to Heaven. Now that would be fine and dandy, but these guys aren't exactly the most tolerant of types that don't fit in their nice and tidy lines, which means that we need to stay underground and avoid getting caught helping people, unless we want to get gutted.

Our overall aim is to enter Heaven and plead our case. Work something out so that we can do our bit and prevent the death toll from getting higher, you guys can help us out with that. The methods we use to collect Fullbrings together can vary, you're a known player so we had to use the ladies Kojima-san, but the aim is still pretty damn noble. Our most recent enemies are these guys called the Vizards, Soul Reapers who embraced the power of Hollows, who are now getting into our turf and might be our way into Heaven.

We need your help, these guys are at an unbelievable level and we've been forced into getting all the Fullbrings we can find, especially with more of these Hollows hanging about. Ichigo Kurosaki is linked with the Soul Reapers and seems to be having issues, meaning that we need you guys more than ever. I don't suppose you can work with us?"

"Who else is going to be involved?" If they worked together, maybe they would be able to take down these XCution people with enough cooperation, though that may just be seen coming.

Thinking that they were becoming more positive about the idea of working with them, this Ginjo person went on. "We think Sado and Inoue have started to develop their powers and Tatsuki Arisawa could still discover them. Others in your little group aren't showing enough to be considered."

Silence ruled the area. If they accepted, they might be able to help out Ichigo with whatever problems he was having, and they might be able to fight off anything that threatened their friends as if they were a bunch of superheroes. If they didn't, then their friends may be given less choice while the bodies of Keigo Asano and Mizuiro Kojima rotted in a ditch somewhere.

"Mizuiro, we should do this," Keigo finally said, turning to see if it was accepted. "I mean, they might be spouting a bunch of crap, for all we know, but things have been getting more tense. We might as well use this as a chance to prepare ourselves for the worse."

"Such deep trust in us." The blonde person finally said, though he wasn't much bothered by the statement, if his face showed anything.

"You did threaten to murder Mizuiro if we didn't work with you guys." Keigo snapped back, so the life of the other was used to coerce the other? That would explain why Keigo was so jittery, he must have thought that saying the wrong thing would have gotten Mizuiro killed, likely to be while he was forced to watch.

That was unforgivable.

"Fine." Mizuiro finally conceded, the day having gone on for too long, now properly glaring at the members of XCution who had been assembled. "Just hope that things work out, in the end."

The ropes were then cut and Keigo and Mizuiro forced the instinct to flee down. They were told about how they were going to be trained to bring out their Fullbring and how it would then allow them to help in taking down those Vizards, followed by informing them about how tough the process would be and that it would be worth it, in the end. They would have gone on with the prep-talk, had it not been for the sudden powerful force that was dragging them down, and the feeling of multiple tiny things being sent into one place.

"What was that?" Keigo asked, struggling to keep himself up after all the stress that had gone on finally caught up with him. What shocked him, and Mizuiro, was the worried expressions on the face of their captors, as if something went horribly wrong in their designs.

"Oh dear." The bartender said, finally preparing the drink. Perhaps it was time for him to indulge in a dirty habit, at least for today, as he felt that things were about to go off the rails, Keigo looked like he wanted to join him. The more the merrier, he guessed.

* * *

"Who are you?"

Tatsuki was getting really pissed off now. She told the rest of the karate team to go on ahead, while she dealt with the foreign guy who had been stalking her for the past hour, but it seemed like she was going to regret not having them alongside. Why? Because she was probably going to need someone to restrain her from leaping at this guy when it became apparent that he was a total stalker, especially with that desperate look he had.

"Ms Arisawa, I assure you that I am completely trust-worthy." And the sky was going to be yellow tomorrow, Tatsuki was actually Santa and Orihime would announce that she and Chizuru were running away to get married in Tahiti, where no one would judge their love affair.

"Then what's with the sunglasses?" That, combined with the trenchcoat and his shit Japanese, made blondie look like an applicant for the 'stereotypical public service announcement bad guy' auditions. Tatsuki was in a bad mood, with Ichigo becoming more and more distant while Orihime and Chad also being a bit distracted as well, and she may be unfairly taking it out on this guy.

But why was he following her then?

Whoever he was, he seemed a bit fidgety while also trying to keep her from speaking too loudly, wanting to avoid attention probably due to his sketchy appearance. "I really need you to trust me he-"

The conversation would have gone on had it not been for the sudden impact that both of them felt, followed by an almost crushing by some invisible force that made Tatsuki's vision go dark for a bit and then she got the chance to feel what it was like to have your very energy get seeped out of you. She struggled to get up again, barely managing to balance herself, and looked around to see if there was any damage to the environment.

"What the hell was that?" She asked herself, seeing that nothing much had changed, although there seemed to be dust coming from one of the areas. Maybe if she checked it out, she would find something that would explain things.

"DON'T GO NEAR THE CRATER!" The stalker all but roared, apparently seeing something that Tatsuki didn't, as he then ran up to her with a shocking amount of speed and began to swear at himself for being so loud. Turning towards the site, his entire face turned white and he began to shake with a lot of fear in his body.

"What is it?" Tatsuki didn't trust this guy as far as she could throw him, which may actually be a fair bit if he weighed less than he looked, but she could feel something ominous and just _wrong_ about whatever was approaching from the crater site.

"Get down." He whispered to her, grabbing her and leaping towards the bushes, she could see something green glow on the ground before a rush of wing slammed on the side of her heard and kept going until they reached the crater site. She was going to protest the carrying and lack of explanation when she could hear his heart rapidly beating. "Holy fuck."

She turned towards the crater site and could see a lot of unmoving bodies on the ground, not even breathing, she forced herself off the stranger's arms and tried to run to some of the karate team members there but quickly stumbled onto the ground. Tatsuki didn't have the energy to force herself over there, cheeks going red over the humiliation of asking someone to walk a few steps to find something out for her.

"Are they alright?"

"I don't think so." He was trying to find a pulse in some of them, to little avail, when he sensed the same wrongness as before suddenly approach them again. The guy approached her and helped her up, looking like he didn't want to stay here long. "Look, we need to get the hell out of here and get somewhere-"

Two figures making their presence interrupted him, their image looking like one of those mirages before it 'solidified' into two people in white, wielding swords on their sides and mask fragments on their faces. The larger one of them had a tan, his mask only covering the bottom half of his jaw with sideburns to complement them, and seemed utterly ripped which only seemed to make the hole in his chest all the more obvious.

The smaller one was much more pale and had tear-like tattoos on his face, where his partner was bald, he instead had black hair which was medium in length. That didn't stop Tatsuki from focusing on the hole in his neck, how the hell did these guys even survive with such things? Were they actually monsters, their lack of reaction to the dead bodies backed that idea up, as did the silent panicking of the guy next to Tatsuki.

"Ulquiorra, qre they the ones Lord Aizen wanted?" The larger one asked the smaller one, who had now focused intensely on the two humans and was probably judging them based on their apparent strength. Maybe this Aizen guy was looking for people who survived their entrance?

"They're just trash, Yammy." Or maybe not.

At that point, the guy next to her seemed to regain his senses and now stood up in a much more firm manner, pulling out some badge that said "B3" on it and turned to Tatsuki, pointing towards the way towards the main part of Karakura Town. That B3 guy then turned once more to the duo and gave her a thumbs-up, she wondered whether he was smiling from the other side or whether it was all an act to prevent her from panicking as he had.

"Right, I think it's time you ran and I fought." His hands made some kind of elaborate gesture before waving across his sunglassess, a green glow now coming from them alongside a strange noise. "See All Things!"

"What's that supposed to do?" The one called Yammy said before charging in for the kill. He raised his fist to strike at the guy and promptly shattered the ground only, BNumber having the same green energy thing gather in his legs to aid in him jumping into the air, he quickly looked down on the giant and smirked at the increasing rage of the monster.

He quickly started falling and landed opposite to where Tatsuki was on the crater, a prospect that heavily pleased the humiliated opponent, but the mysterious stalker seemed unconcerned with the rapid fists that were launching at him. Every fist seemed to be gracefully avoided, with what looked to be very little effort, and one particular punch simply ended with the side-arm being balanced on with little effort being shown again.

"Missed me." Bee3 then gathered green energy around his legs once more, forcing the fist down, and leapt into the air, before he then surged towards the big guy. Once the large monster had regained his footing, he tried to get revenge but the oncoming left hook having been caught with both hands and used as both a hand-stand and momentum for the foreigner to then, once more, gather that green stuff again and land what looked to be a devastating towards the right side of 'Yammy's' head with the use of his left.

A crack could be heard, along with a deep booming laughter.

"You're quick, but far too weak to handle someone of my strength." The giant warned as Blondie now fell back towards Tatsuki, looking as shocked as she was that something that looked so strong had simply caused slight bruising, he tried to stand up but winced in pain. It looked like his leg had taken a beating from trying to break through the skin of that guy, it seemed as if the two were going to have to retreat from the area, although their speed might not be enough if those guys tired that weird teleporting thing again.

That was, until Chad and Orihime had somehow arrived, Chad having something batshit crazy going on with his right arm, while Orihime quickly had a forcefield quickly surround the stranger's leg, looking like it had managed to heal it. She looked up from her work and stared at both Tatsuki and Blondie. "Please, escape this area."

"He's too strong for you." Chad muttered, although it seemed like even he was going to be easily overpowered by that monster. She felt like shit for doing this, running when she had vowed to protect Orihime all those years ago, now she could barely even stand without wondering if she was going to die, as if she was utterly useless to do anything. Which was probably why she almost rallied to B3, or whatever his real name is, standing up and standing next to Chad with determination in his eyes.

"Listen, I had a job and it involved bringing you guys to my bosses." Wait, what? Tatsuki would have to press on the matter afterwards, that is, if they survived this. "And I will not go back and tell them that I lost them to a goddamn Hollow."

Orihime also refused to leave, meaning that Tatsuki wouldn't either, she may not have magical powers or anything but she wasn't the kind of person to just flee when her friends were looking death in the eye. Granted, that may have been a line from Ghost Bust, but it still counted for something! That 'Ulquiorra' person simply stared at them, once again checking to see if anything of them matched the criteria of that Aizen guy.

"All of them are trash, you heard Lord Aizen's orders." Big and Strong seemed to like hearing that, giving a war-like roar as he charged towards the three, none of who looked like they were just going to lie there and take it. Tatsuki wondered if she should run like they told her to, she might make it to safety. But then how would she look herself in the mirror, if they died?

* * *

"The Arrancar?" Izuru Kira asked, trepidation starting to crawl up his spine, realising what this meant. "Captain Ichimaru, the-"

"I know, I know." Captain Ichimaru's voice cut the Vice Captain off, looking slightly down that he wouldn't get to see how a Captain Kira would act in the Fifth Division. "The message is already being sent to the team to start mobilising, we may not get there in time, but we can still find out more about these guys."

Izuru turned to the third seat officer he was talking to about administration. He recalled him from his days in the Fifth Division, memories that now seemed so much more sinister with the revelation of Aizen's treachery, and he seemed to be competent enough, especially when looking at his skills with hakuda, kido and zanjutsu, with a decent amount of talent in shunpo. Not much to say compared to a seated officer in the Second Division, but good enough. As if he were designed to be that-

Don't think like that. This was probably what Aizen wants, suspicion directed at the Divisions with the traitors so that discord breaks out, well Kira wasn't going to play that game., he was going to make Aizen regret making the Fifth Division one of the most deadly in Seireitei. Starting with Ichimaru Gin and Izuru Kira, Momo may get hurt (something that had tortured him since he raised his blade on her) but she would be saved as well.

First things first, though.

He turned to the officer of the Fifth Division, looking somewhat awkward in asking him to take over facilities until he could establish communication with Seireitei from the human world. "Third Seat Kuuyo, I know this is all a bit much but-"

"Don't worry, Vice Captain, I'll keep everything under control." A courteous gesture was made by the officer and Kira felt relieved, he had been concerned that the Division would react negatively, but everyone had been trying their best to clear their name. Hopefully, that would continue while Kira was in the human world.

"Good, I'll keep in touch." He replied, quickly moving to the headquarters of the Third Division, leaving the third seated officer with only a smile.

Had he been more attentive, he may have noted the very same officer now adopting a smirk rather than a friendly smile, as he rose from his seat and casually strolled towards the Captain's desk that Kira had been sitting on. The very same one that Aizen used to sit in, before he left Seireitei, the officer maintained his smile and strolled out, wanting to make sure that everything was prepared for the right moment.

"Everything under control." He mused, before walking down a hallway which was now much darker than before.


	5. Territorial Establishment

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Bleach. Feel free to express your opinion in the review box.**

**The matter of Squad B will be explained later on in the story but it should be noted that they are not nice people and are certainly loose with morals, as we will see with all of XCution as the story goes on.**

* * *

Chapter V: Territorial Establishment

"What happened to your efforts in recruiting Ms Arisawa?"

Brian Kennedy, a.k.a B3, was just your average guy. Actually, that was a damn dirty lie, he was actually a guy whose parents met with an evil spiritual creature that gave him powers which he used for cheating in casinos until XCution found him, although the principle still stood. But yeah, just your average guy on an average head-hunting mission that got sped up due to some new enemies that were apparently really bloody strong.

Sure, he had never actually seen that many Hollows during his time in the organisation, they mostly seemed to frequent around Japan and the ones he saw weren't all that tough, but there was enough to keep things interesting. James, despite being near the big 4-0, was a pretty alright kind of guy and Katie was someone who was fine to be around during good days. All of them mostly collected other Fullbrings and sent them to be trained by others or dealt with the occasional spiritual crap-storm

Until he met Squad A, that was. In a matter of five days, he got to meet with the utterly insane second in command and then he got to find out the question of what breaking your leg felt like, a question that could now answered with 'it really fucking hurts'. The chick seemed pretty tough, even discounting the spiritual pressure she released, for the standards of a human but her refusal to head for safety was really damn annoying, especially when she had her escape covered.

Then again, maybe it was because she felt safe with the confident stance of three (though she didn't know it) Fullbringers facing down what seemed to just be a Hollow, that the big guy was going to go down once they used the power of friendship and all that crap. Looking at the guy with the weird arm, Brian could understand why that would be the case.

However, the shit-stomping that they gained at the hands of the large guy probably should have clued her in. It was the first time in years that Brian had feared for his life, even with See All Things, nothing seemed to do worse than give him a couple of bruises and disorienting him, not exactly prime-time results. Once you then factored in Arm-Man getting said arm nearly ripped into two, the ginger chick getting walloped across the area and half of Brian's ribs getting destroyed by a single punch, she really should have used her brain then.

If it wasn't for that Kuroseki kid and the duo who then backed him up, there would have been four additional corpses to go with the unlucky crowd surrounding the crater, though their presence probably meant that the girl and arm guy were working with the Soul Reapers. Brian now had to relay this back to his people while trying to find out whether that medicine stuff really could help, not to mention having the boss, a.k.a Ginjo, take over recruitment activities.

The ego could only take so much damage, and it was time for him to become B3.

"Shit got complicated, as I said before." Some of them looked disdainful at that, clearly thinking that he was just too weak compared to those in Squad A, probably a good point to make. "The better question is how did those two manage to bring their Fullbrings out on that level without proper training?"

That got everyone silent. No one in XCution had, or even heard of, anyone advancing their Fullbring without the supervision of at least another Fullbringer, sure a lot of people used such powers before even being contacted (B3 being one example) but never to the strength that he saw. Ginjo had trained Squad A, just as B1 did for Squad B, although those two had been able to match B3 in holding off the Hollow, albeit not the best example to use, which implied training.

"The Vizards?" B2 suggested, perhaps trying to link in the Vizards with the Hollows, not a hard thing to do when you consider the alleged powers of the former.

"Nah, we can't track their base, but they've yet to approach either of the two's neighbourhoods." B3 was unsure about the kid, but Yukio had been good with the information he got, meaning that the two rogue Fullbrings got help from elsewhere. Did it have something to do with the two people who came to the rescue when the Hollow was too much?

Though, now that he was thinking about it, the way that he had been destroyed open a very disturbing possibility for B3 about the Vizards.

"On second thought, I think the even better question is how the hell are we going to fight them?" It was clear who he meant. "I got my arse kicked in a single punch by one of those guys and you think that we can take on a group of guys who are just as powerful?"

"They're actually stronger." Tsukishima counter-claimed, either not understanding the concerns B3 had or trying to make things more uncomfortable for him, no points for guessing which one it was. The only way that he could really respond to that was with his mouth, seeing as violence was rather difficult at the moment.

"Oh well, that's great. Staying alive was overrated anyway."

"I agree," Well, that was interesting. B1 had mostly been quiet since the meeting with Tsukishima, but had now attracted glares from many in Squad A for directly contradicting Ginjo's right hand man. "I could see the reasoning of not bringing in others before, but if we do not have enough people, we're just going to die."

"Adding more lambs to a slaughterhouse doesn't change the fact that they will die."

What the actual fuck was wrong with this guy?

"Lambs don't have powers that could help out." B3 might as well shouted out, realising what happened the last time he got into such an argument, he chose to make the winning statement before death threats came out. "I'm bringing this to Ginjo when he gets here."

"Suit yourself." His death was probably certain now, judging by the look on Tsukishima's face, until the man quickly adopted a neutral expression once more and turned to Giriko. The man seemed to be the stereotypical bartender, but the story on how he used his power was more than a little disturbing. "I don't suppose the two we recruited today are going to be any good?"

"Both of them seem to be coping fine, not doing anything stupid," Giriko replied, getting people with Fullbring's that were stable of mind was pretty rare, meaning that things were finally picking up or there would be something wrong with them. "We'll start training tomorrow."

Fullbring training in a single day's notice? B3 could remember his own training, it hadn't been the most enjoyable experience to feel both his physical and spiritual reserves by sent to their limit on many occasions, having two teenagers go through almost sounded cruel until you noticed the kids like Yukio and Riruka in Squad A who would have done the same thing. It almost made him feel inadequate compared to them, they probably had a better reason than him for being here.

He would have gone down Memory Lane, but the sound of a phone ringing from Tsukishima's pocket interrupted everything, everyone remained silent for a few seconds.

"I think that's him." B2 said, maybe trying to get something to happen, but only making herself look stupid as all hell. Who did she think it was? The Hollows from earlier, wanting to make a deal to fight the Vizards?

Tsukishima grabbed the phone. "Ginjo? Is it done?" A conversation that couldn't be heard by B3, though judging by the looks on the faces of Squad A, it looked like XCution got itself another new member. "We just got ourselves a new recruit, he just needed to play the rescuing knight card with her."

Made sense. The chick probably had a stiffy for the orange-haired girl, when looking back on the fight, and wanted to appear all tough to match the girl's girly looks, seeing everyone else in the area be stronger than her probably didn't help her sense of usefulness. B3 never claimed to be the good guy, having power by an excuse for his actions didn't really scream hero, but he could recognise when someone was morally better than him and Tatsuhki, or however you said it, was.

Only Yukio and Riruka of Squad A and B3 and B2 were left in the room as Jackie and Tsukishima had left to get a more detailed report of what had happened from Ginjo and both Giriko and B1 had chosen to go with them, probably also reminiscing about some old stories about their time in the organisation. Either that or B1 was making sure that the addition of the new recruits didn't cause anyone to think that space could be opened up or power could be hogged.

B3 was really hoping it didn't come to blows. Not because of any nostalgia or anything, but because any conflict with Squad A would end with him, B2 and B1 getting slaughtered and being rendered pointless, even just Yukio and Riruka could massacre all three of Squad B and he also didn't have any intention of finding out what Book of the End really did.

He heard the stories.

"How strong were they?" Thankfully, it seemed that learning more about the Soul Reapers and what to expect seemed more important to Yukio than anything else. He wondered if the Vizards were only now being recognised as a group that might actually kill them, bringing in more people might not do much, except for offering distractions.

"That Kurosuki kid, or whatever he's called, just kept on changing. The lady who actually saved the group looked like she didn't need to exert any effort, though she was slowing down as time went by." She handled that Hollow as if he was made of those shitty newspaper models they made you make in school when the teacher had nothing better to do, but he could still tell when something wasn't going right. Powerful or not, she was still hitting something tough and it showed.

"Slowing down?" Riruka asked, almost looking hopeful about the prospect that these underestimated threats simply run out of fuel quickly.

"Don't get your hopes up, it's like going from a hundred miles an hour to ninety-nine. The kid on the road is still screwed." Maybe B3 was just as screwed up as Tsukishima, just at a different kind of level.

"Squad Z are who we're bringing out." Yukio said, showing a sly smile, it was clear what reaction he wanted from them. The luxury of one who did not need to worry about getting caught or losing himself to them was quite plentiful, though B3 managed to keep a poker face on.

"Z?" B2 looked horrified, their reputation had attracted attention from everywhere, although her counterpart instead found himself seeing the logic in that. "Yeah, I'd have done the same."

She turned to him, shock clearly being on her face, maybe assuming that they were on the same side due to their designation. "What about their track record?"

"Worst case scenario, they become the Soul Reaper's problem." Unlikely, seeing as they would get slaughtered in a matter of seconds once they arrived on the battlefield against those Vizards, the sacrifices had already been chosen. "It's the only way we can get their power, isn't it?"

He forgot which one it was, but they could consume spiritual power and contain it. Whether it was Hollow, Fullbring or even Soul Reaper, they could suck it out and share it among the others, the second was something that could already be done by any Fullbring and Hollows often didn't have that much power left once you got them still, but the last one had been an interesting thing to hear about.

"Luck may be on our side, one of the recruits here might be able to do something similar." B2 looked desperate. She was relatively new to the experience, the impact of the job they did hadn't reached her yet, nor did she get enough scraps of fallen Hollows to really see the wider picture, it was fine back home, but that wouldn't fly here.

"No," Riruka quickly laid down the law with that. "You know how Fullbrings work. The powers are reliant on the Hollow and no Fullbring has ever had the same power as one of their cohorts."

"How powerful do you think we'll become?" That was the question on everyone's mind. These Vizards were confirmed to be pretty damn powerful, meaning that gaining their power (the how was becoming more apparent) would be a pretty sweet deal. "Enough to get their attention?"

"It's likely." Yukio merely responded, maybe he wasn't holding out much hope or didn't want to show it. Everyone in XCution saw getting into Heaven or being let into it as the main prize, having certain questions answered and even being offered a deal about Hollows and gaining more power from them. Some had less noble designs, but nothing that couldn't be dealt with.

"Is that the real reason not many people are brought in?" B3 briefly pondered, feeling a bit reflective for the moment. "Gaining the most energy that they can?"

"You aren't happy with this?" Yukio looked at him as if he was crazy, then again, it made sense for him to think like that.

B3 laughed at that, being unhappy with more power? Why not ask him if he was unhappy with being able to see?

"I'm not complaining, Squad Z are crazy but Ginjo destroyed them once, he can do it again, however unlikely them making to that point is."

"You're not scared?" B2 burst out, obviously feeling uncomfortable about how casual the others seemed about the oncoming war. "We're probably going to die if we face a guy like you did again."

"Then don't get caught." He told her, probably with a sadistic grin on his face, judging by the disturbed look on her face. Maybe the stress was getting to him, but for all that they pretended to be friends, the only people that really liked one another were Squad A and that was more because of Ginjo in some of their cases. The rest of them were like sharks, waiting to maul each other before they even got out into the world.

The new guys would learn that in time, whether it was by the actions of others or their own.

* * *

"So, when exactly can I have my home back?" Ichigo sarcastically asked, looking on the crowd of Soul Reapers that seemed to see his room as a meeting place for all to come and go as they pleased. From the horrifying smile of Gin to the hard looks of Renji, Ichigo wondered if his closet was like cocaine for these guys.

Then again, he hadn't been having the best day after the events of yesterday, when Mizuiro and Keigo were called as absent he feared the worst but they were just ill, as was Tatsuki, while Chad was too injured to go to school and Orihime was badly injured. Ichigo himself was having trouble controlling his Hollow side and had to deal with the people around him suffering because he couldn't fight at his best without feeling that voice getting that much louder.

So maybe he was glad to see those faces again. Gin probably scared a lot of the students away after one of the guys made a rude comment about Matsumoto, meaning that they got jumped by both Gin and Kira, while Mahana asked him if he could introduce her to Kira, meaning that the day became a lot more interesting. Rukia had came back and helped Ichigo realise that he needed to crush the inner Hollow instead of fearing it and helped patch up his relationship with Orihime, so maybe Ichigo was going overboard.

Then again, getting along with people and living with them were two different things, meaning it was off to the street they go.

Gin gave off one of his "I want to you shit yourself in fear" grins in response to the question. "Relax, Ichi-go-go." He looked around to see if his joke made an impact, even that Kira guy looked more depressed than normal. "No, okay then. We'll be finding somewhere to live, but this area has had a worryingly high level of attacks at the hands of Hollows. Aizen's minions are now attacking the place as well, not to mention the presence of the man in the trenchcoat."

"How powerful is he, anyway?" Ichigo asked, he looked like he was doing well against the Arrancar until the drop was finally caught on him by the big guy, so did Seireitei know this guy?

"I have no idea how he was able to initially hold his own against the Arrancar." Kira answered for his Captain, looking confused himself about how this guy seemed to not die the second he entered the battlefield. "His spiritual pressure wasn't that much, meaning that he was probably the equivalent of a third seat officer, that 'See All Things' power might have been the main factor."

"So why are you guys here then?"

Gin, once again, hopped in to answer that, cutting off Renji before he could say anything. He seemed a lot less threatening than the guy who was waiting for them by the West Gate of Seireitei when they tried to save their friend. "Rukia has the most experience, Renji is the most reliable, both he and I recommended Kira, Rangiku just had to come along and Shiro-chan didn't want to be alone."

"Of course you would say it like that." A young and grumpy voice spoke from the window, Ichigo recognised him as the kid who led the Tenth Division, poor guy got stabbed in the back by one of the traitors apparently. His comment gained some scolding from Matsumoto about how he was trying to be overly mysterious and all.

"So where are you guys off to then?" Ichigo asked, wondering if he was going to have to sic Kanonji on them. Actually, that would be far too cruel to the people who helped him get over his depression, he would just kick them out while they slept if they tried to overstay their welcome.

"I guess Rangiku and I can live with that healer girl, with Captain Hitsugaya as our young ward." Gin said this with a tone that you normally saw on American sitcoms with the overly proud father, Toshiro looked unhappy with that comparison while Matsumoto was more unhappy about something else.

"Her name is Orihime, Gin." She bonked him on the head and Gin now took the tone of a scolded child, his face looking a hell of a lot less sinister than before, before they began talking about experiences that made the other men in the room almost close their ears in horror. Well, Renji, Kira and Ichigo almost closed their ears, being somewhat interested in some of what was being said.

Ichigo moved towards Kira to ask an important question. "How did they get together?" Granted, it turned out that Gin was actually the good guy, against all odds, but he seemed far too...insane to actually gain a meaningful relationship with another person who wasn't Mayuri.

Oh god, the images.

"They grew up together in the Rukongai, kind of like Captain Hitsugaya and-" Kira stopped for some reason, the room going much colder seemed linked to it and he himself looked a bit more glum. "I shouldn't have said that."

"This is why you need to find a place of your own." Matsumoto nodded at Gin's advice, the tone of a scolded child becoming one of the inspiration teacher in the more adult films that Yuzu liked to watch. "Spread your wings and become your own man amongst men."

"Yes, Captain Ichimaru!" Kira's face from utterly depressed to inspired to an almost worried pace, flames seemed to be coming out of his eyes and his very attitude seemed to be based on the noble quest of finding somewhere else to live, more likely due to Orihime being unable to house four other people and Toshiro looking too young to be on his own in the human world.

"You're not going with them, are you?" Ichigo cautiously asked Renji, wondering whether he was going to find Renji going through the same deal.

"He's only like this around Captain Ichimaru." He assured the orange-haired companion. "I'm going to Urahara's."

"I was thinking of staying here." Rukia chirped, a happy grin on her face, it was almost like the old days again where Ichigo had to hide a girl in his own damn closet.

"Oh joy."

"If we're done with the pleasantries," Toshiro cut in. "I'm sure you realise now that we're facing a very powerful threat."

"Really, I thought that the guy who cut me so deep that my spine was apparently showing was just a stronger version of Mizuiro." Ichigo said this sarcastically, due to Soi Fon and the Vice Captain who joined him, but the image now came into his mind of Aizen and Mizuiro swapping roles and laughed to himself. "Good at getting the ladi-

He never finished that sentence, feeling the sharp glare from Hitsugaya being aimed at him. "If you're finished." Ichigo remembered that one of Aizen's 'ladies' had been Toshiro's friend. He mumbled an apology before letting the Captain continue. "You've fought with Madarame and Zaraki, the strength of the most powerful Eleventh Division members is nothing to ignore. When you combine this with the completed Arrancar, it is unlikely that the war will be one without large casualties, if Aizen commands ten Vasto Lorde, we've already lost."

"Twelve, I say." Gin snipped in, gaining a glare from Toshiro and a sigh from Matsumoto.

"Twelve then." The poor guy just didn't catch a break. "The point is that we need everyone that we can, former Vice Captains are being pulled out of retirement, bankai training is being given to those who are likely to achieve it and any area of interest is being heavily guarded, not to mention the damage to our direct fighting unit."

Ichigo never imagined that the Eleventh Division guys would be the one to betray Seireitei, even now he had trouble believing it, especially Zaraki and Yachiru. "I never thought they would be the ones to join Aizen." He admitted to the group, becoming a lot more interested in how they would be treated. "What were the sentences?"

"Death for Aizen, Zaraki and Soi Fon, a trial that will lead to death for Madarame and Ayasegawa and information-gathering from Yachiru." Toshiro didn't mention what would happen to Aizen's Vice Captain, whether that was a good thing or not was something he didn't want to think about, Ichigo just sighed.

"It's all about to kick off." He had already noticed the news about what had caused the people around the crater site to die like that, people were already claiming government conspiracies or gas leaks. He hoped that no one else weren't affected by that thing the Espada did, they should have been safely outside the range of the attack, hopefully they would remain out of this, though Ichigo wasn't that confident. Aizen was the type to go for the defenceless to get to people.

It was starting to look like no one would be safe.

* * *

"Good, Ulquiorra, you were right to have not eliminated Ichigo Kurosaki." Aizen told the Espada, smiling from his throne and looking down on everyone else, content in his brand new kingdom where all were his little toys. That was, however, different for the two (three if you counted Yachiru perched on Zaraki's shoulder) Soul Reapers that had gone with him on his quest for godhood from the moment he approached them, Kenpachi Zaraki and Soi Fon had the 'honour' of standing beside Aizen as he laid down his judgements down on his creations.

Zaraki didn't give a damn about that, he merely cared for the battles ahead and making sure that he faced the toughest opponents, to become even stronger and enjoy the fight. The last one was really important, he had almost destroyed the chance to enjoy battles before once and he had vowed to make sure such a thing never happened again, and Aizen had told him that it wouldn't happen again.

If what Aizen told the others was true, the thing about the Hollows evolving or some crap like that, Zaraki sure as hell didn't want to kill an opponent if they had the chance to become strong, although he was starting to get doubts about that. The Espada were definitely becoming stronger but they weren't exactly the best opponents to fight, half of them didn't even fight by fighting with their own strength and those that could actually be fun often had issues.

Maybe that was why he didn't go full-out on Ichigo, Zaraki knew he would have lost if he hadn't had Aizen to force Instinct out, who still refused to speak with him unless the battle was good enough, and he knew that the kid would go far. He even wanted Ichigo to succeed, seeing as Aizen had six-hundred plans for world domination to how to scratch his own balls.

Either way, Ulquiorra's report was more than a bit infuriating. Someone like Yammy should have been a bit of a challenge, once he got going, but to lose to the guy while hadn't started fighting in earnest was fucking embarrassing. Zaraki was going to have to ask around to see whether the next Arrancar to fight him would ask him what the hell was up, or maybe Zaraki would do it himself and find out why the kid was holding back so much, did it have to do with what happened in Seireitei?

A bad day was still in the cards, so Grimmjow's suggestion of just killing Ichigo was a big no-no, no matter how fun fighting him was. Though using words like "no-no" were probably a sign that he may need some time away from Yachiru on his shoulder.

"Damn straight." He merely grunted, hoping that Grimmjow got that Ichigo was something to watch and see grow, not just simply get in a rut over whatever was keeping him from fighting at his full potential.

"Is he your prey?" Grimmjow responded, the Arrancar seemed unable to understand the concept of a rival that you grew stronger by fighting against as _they_ grew stronger as well, Nnoitra looked like he may have gotten the idea but the incident with Nelliel was a wake-up call.

Zaraki turned to glare at the 7th Espada, hoping that at least he would have gotten the idea. "I want to see how powerful he can become."

"His power constantly fluctuates, I don't see how it would match your full use of shikai." Ulquiorra was an annoying kind of guy too, so much like Byakuya if he didn't even give a shit about duty, law and all that crap. He tried picking a fight with him, just to see his potential, but all he did was whine about what Aizen would think. Personally, Zaraki wondered if the guy wasn't just scared that he'll lose his position if he lost, making him pretty damn pathetic.

"Give him time, the kid'll sort it all out."

"You have a very cavalier attitude to all of this." If it wasn't for Hairbun, as Yachiru called her, and the lady's bloody obsession with Yoruichi, Zaraki would have assumed she was sleeping with Aizen for all she acted as his right-hand lady.

"Bite me, I want what I was promised."

"Yeah, kill-stealing isn't nice and Mr Clown didn't want to do that." Yachiru piped up, getting Soi Fon to (in that she didn't continue the argument) back down, although a good amount of the room's occupants gave her some dirty looks.

The Espada didn't like their nicknames, not in a tired but accepting way as those in Seireitei would with her nicknames, but in a "if Zaraki wasn't with you all the time, I'd gut you" way. Some of them, such as Nell, Halibel, Grimmjow and Starrk, had reluctantly accepted their names while others simply stayed back due to her position.

He shouldn't have brought her here, he liked the fight just as much as anyone else, and he told himself this before and here she was, but Yachiru wouldn't have gotten in that much trouble if she stayed in Seireitei and some of the other Captains might have been a good replacement for him. Maybe he was being selfish, he wanted some familiar faces for a war that seemed to be going all the wrong ways.

"So when do the battles begin?" Zaraki asked, feeling more and more agitated as time went by. "Sitting around and doing nothing isn't exactly fun."

"A month, that is when we shall make our first move." Aizen explained, although not why it would be a month specifically, but Zaraki didn't really care. "Until then, we observe the movements that Seireitei makes and wait to see what the interloper does next."

Ulquiorra, being unusually chatty today, certainly acted confused even if he didn't look it. "Lord Aizen, he was not of much power."

"Yet you mentioned that it had a familiar look about it, as if he had stolen the powers of a Hollow." He knew what they were. Aizen always knew these damn things, Soi Fon was probably in the know as well, but he liked to watch his subordinates try and figure these things out. "They may come into battle with our enemies, meaning that we have less resistance."

"Yes, Lord Aizen."

He smirked at that, now standing up from the throne where he had sat. "Now then, I must take my absence, the meeting is over."

Everyone was filing out of the room while it was obvious who Aizen was seeing. Zaraki couldn't recognise the presence but Yachiru whispered that it was Hairbun, or Hinamori if they were using her actual name, although it felt different from what it normally was. The former Vice-Captain gave off a gentle but firm presence before, not really wanting to go to violence and then going full-out when she did have to, whereas it now seemed to be the opposite, the wish to avoid fighting now more subdued compared to something different.

Soi Fon was smiling, maybe she saw it as love or something like that, and didn't seem to care about the change. He knew what the feeling actually was, he saw it in members of the Eleventh during battle, and it was one of obsession towards a particular goal, Soi Fon gave it off as well. So many in Seireitei associated it with her job, the reason she avoided celebrations when she could, when it was towards her old teacher, now Hinamori gave it off as well towards Aizen. Zaraki hoped that she didn't change too much, Yachiru might get upset with that.

His quarters in Las Noches had been basic, somewhere for him to sleep and train in while other areas for Yachiru to do whatever she normally did there, when Ikaku and Yumichika joined, they got a similar deal to Zaraki in that it was the same as their area in the Eleventh. The two seemed to adapt fine, they made friends with Grimmjow's buddies and the Rejectee Espada, they might get along with the next Arrancar that Aizen was going to create if he was tough enough.

He let Yachiru hop off and head towards whoever she wanted to visit, Soi Fon had agreed to have the Exequias monitor her movements with the camera system so that no one did something stupid, and decided to see how the two were doing. Yumichika was arguing with his zanpakuto over naming and everything while Ikaku was trying to create bankai with his, they seemed to get that they needed to get stronger for the war.

"Hey, Captain, how'd the meeting go?" Yumichika asked, taking a break from engaging in a war of words against his sword.

"Crappy." He admitted, feeling the frustration of Las Noches getting to him. "I can't even fight with the Espada. Nnoitra gets a hissy fit if he loses, Grimmjow's having one right now and the others aren't strong enough or don't offer an actual fight."

Zaraki told the two of the meeting and what was happening for the Allied Forces, or Fuerzas Aliadas as Aizen called it, preparing for war. "A month's time." Ikaku considered, turning to Yumichika with an eager smile. "We should train harder."

Yumichika smiled back, lightly touching his zanpakuto in response. "Yeah, might as well, we could even get some surprises by that time."

* * *

In a world of white and black, many a year ago, there once was a king who ruled with an iron fist. He was the ruler of a race of people who had discovered the power to end the demons that haunted the night, although not seen by many who were defended, with great efficiency and skill, bringing down the plague that had been the foundation of nightmares in a matter of years.

Many in modern times, with the luxury of peace, may have seen him as a cruel despot had they heard of how he treated his enemies, a definition that could be very wide of the intended meaning. Subjects who merely used the wrong type of tense when speaking would share the same fate as those who openly defied their king with violence. If he was in a good mood, the former would only be killed instead of tortured like the latter, but it was still cruel to treat one's own people like that.

However, that would be disputed by the current followers, whether out of fear or sheer loyalty, as defeatist. How else would the Hollows be expelled from Europe, especially after the stories of the Dark Ages? Strength was needed for the Quincy to survive, had it not been for the defeatists and peons who dared to try and compromise, humanity would have evolved to be like the Quincy and grow beyond the need for Soul Reapers.

So what if the world of Seireitei would eventually merge with the human world? It would have just uprooted the weakest among them and allow for evolution to work its magic, the Fullbring hybrids, disgusting creatures as they were, had been proof of this. Those who followed the great Juha Bach understood this, not like the dogs who fled once the Soul Reapers finally chose to do battle with the upstart, instead making a compromise with them about abandoning the king in exchange for 'the cause'.

What was the cause without the king? Nothing. They had accepted slavery with soft words, weapons that were disposed of during the Great Retreat, ensuring that nothing would damage the perfect little vision of the Soul Reapers in keeping humanity as their pet. Souken Ishida, gifted though he was, learnt this the hard way under the operating table of Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi and the XCution, as they called themselves now, would learn this in time as well when facing down the abominations of Sosuke Aizen and Kisuke Urahara.

Nine hundred and ninety-nine years they and their ancestors had hidden in this pocket dimension, hiding away until the time for their lord and master to regain his shape, mind and power once more so that he would lead them to a glorious victory as foretold by many. The death of the half-breeds was a sacrifice of which little tears had been shed, the Quincy who they came from should have known better, when it was for the sake of all true Quincy.

Haschwalth understood these words, although they seemed overly harsh towards those who did not choose their birth, and had been promoted to the rank of Sterm Ritter B based not on just power but on his loyalty to the cause. His family mocked him for his soft heart, however he had been chosen to be the confident of Juha Bach, the one given the most freedom to act out of all of them, it definitely had its benefits (even if Haschwalth rarely indulged in them).

Such power had its downsides though, one of which being the duty that came with it. Especially when it concerned dealing with some of the more youthful Stern Ritters who were less than likely to be as patient at their ancestors had been, waiting a few months was no task for those who waited years, for those who barely knew life it was more of a task.

"How much longer must we wait?" The youngest lamented, everything from the way he kept his hair to his posture showed that he was not the efficient type, only his manner of dress was immaculate and that was probably to avoid death.

The elder one, though still quite young, saw himself as more mature and tried to explain away the issue, all three of them waiting just outside the room of his majesty. "Not long now, he only needs a few more months." He reassured his companion, with an arrogance that only came with true talent. "Then-"

He would never be able to finish his sentence, for the few seconds that came by had contained a blade slashing through the door of Juha Bach from the inside that easily decapitated the older recruit, resulting in the younger one having a panicked look on his face and a slight issue for Haschwalth. He was going to need to have his clothing cleaned of the blood once more.

"Don't talk of me as if you have known me my whole life." Came the growl from the room, a figure who had not regained all of his power yet, despite having enough to have the other two kneeling before him. He looked to Haschwalth, rarely ever acknowledging the weaker men and women of his army, and spoke now with slightly more humour in his voice. "He was right though, only a few months now, then we move."

Hunger emitted from all of them. It was not a hunger for food, wine or women, but a hunger for revenge. Avenging the lost honour of the Quincy against the Soul Reapers that had cut them down, the Hollows whose continued existence openly mocked those with the power to truly stop them and any who saw themselves as friends of Seireitei. The Vandenreich would annihilate all of them, with the very bankai that the Soul Reapers held in such high regard, the ultimate form of justice.

* * *

"What have we gotten ourselves into?"

Tatsuki had a rough past few days. She had seen a good amount of people who she liked, or at least respected, die without a single eye-blink from the culprits and she became the thing that she resented most, a victim. Not only that, but she got to see the people she cared about get beaten within an inch of their life, especially Orihime who should never look as she did on the ground, and couldn't do a damn thing about it. Not even the guy talking to her had been able to do anything to that guy.

Maybe that was why she agreed to join that Ginjo guy's group, X-something, after he told her that she had powers just like everyone else in the damn world. Tatsuki never wanted to feel like how she did in that forest, utterly useless while a slaughter took place in front of her, and if this Bringfull could help her become strong enough to deal with such threats, then fine. Once she had been called by Mizuiro and Keigo, however, she was starting to wonder whether she had just made a horrible mistake.

If they were fine with threatening to torture teenagers to death, how would they react to her if she failed to strengthen herself in time.

"Only what we had to do." Mizuiro admitted, a rare tone of defeat from him, Tatsuki quickly deciding that she didn't like that tone. "If what you're saying is correct, we might need this if we want to survive."

"Think it'll be tough?" Keigo asked, the fear being very obvious, although the time for lying to themselves had ended. They had to do this, otherwise Ichigo and the others would get overwhelmed by more of those...monsters, no matter what pain or trouble they would have to go through they had to keep on fighting for their friends. Mizuiro summed up her feelings for her.

"Definitely." There would be no illusions, it would hurt, probably a lot, but they didn't have a choice.


End file.
